


The Path Destiny takes us

by TheGuyWhoThoughtHeDidSomethingCool



Category: Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Kingdom Hearts, Soul Eater
Genre: AU, F/M, Feedback is helpful, I just started writing this one day, I'm not comepletly sure where I'm going with this, I've only known about this site for a month, If Vanitas doesn't make you cry then i'm afraid you have no soul, My first fic please don't tear out my innocent heart, Oh by the way Eraqus is evil and the father of the wayfinder trio :D, There's a reason Patty's doesn't have the mind of a 5 year old. It's gonna be kinda far in though., Ventus Terra and Aqua (Kingdom Hearts) are siblings, Ventus can also create Unversed from negative and positive emotions (more on that later), no one acts like they do in their games/show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 12:10:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 35,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17406671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGuyWhoThoughtHeDidSomethingCool/pseuds/TheGuyWhoThoughtHeDidSomethingCool
Summary: Ventus was just a normal boy starting his first year in a new high school. Or so he thought. Weird things begin happening, and Terra and Aqua have a secret they can no longer keep. And in the process, Ventus' two new friends get roped into the situation. One friend he loves with all of his heart, the other the best fiend Ventus ever knew. Both he couldn't bear to lose, and it all starts with a dream.





	1. Beginnings.

**Author's Note:**

> How I started writing this is really surprising to me. My English teacher announced that we were to write a 500-600 word essay or story. At first, I was gonna do this, but by the time I was done, years may have gone by. So I just continued writing this, the original uncut version, on the side. And I've got all the time I need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kind of thing is something that has been brewing in my head for a long time. It started when my English teacher assigned us to write 500-600 words about whatever, and a spark was lit. I couldn't do the entire thing, as there wouldn't have been enough time. But after that assignment, I began working on this on the side. I actually am new to this site, and I've been reading around. (My favorite work so far has been the Cast a Shadow series by Taliax go check it out if you like kingdom hearts, and are a fan of AquaxVanitas)  
> So I finally created a profile on here and I'm sending what I've written here. Also, the characters don't really act like they do in their respective games/series.

Ventus felt disembodied. He could see himself floating in complete darkness. A voice spoke to him. The voice had no sound, but he knew something- no, someONE was talking to him. He tried to respond but his voice wouldn’t come out.  
“Ventus…” the voice called.  
“Ventus…..” the voice called once more.  
“VENTUS!” the voice roared.  
Ventus had finally gained the strength to speak.  
“Who’s there!?” the startled boy yelled.  
“A part of you is incomplete,” the voice said, “You are meant for so much more.”  
Ventus was confused.  
“What do you mean? I’m not anything special.” He replied.  
“The time will come when you will be completed, and you will save this world from darkness that will stop at nothing to destroy the light.” Suddenly the sound of beeping rang through the darkness. The voice knew that there was not much time left.  
“Your time comes. All you have to do is…” Ventus knew what the voice was going to say, yet he did not know why.  
“Open the door,” Ventus replied. Suddenly he felt himself being sucked from the darkness. “Your time comes.” The voice echoed.

Ventus jumped up and hit his head against part of his bed. Rubbing the top of his head, he realized that the beeping sound he heard was his alarm clock telling him to get up. He turned it off, sat up, then sighed. He had that dream multiple times, yet he didn’t understand it.  
“All I have to do is open the door… what could that mean?” he wondered. “Wait!!! I’ve gotta get up!” he exclaimed. He got dressed ready for his first day at his new school and rushed to the breakfast table where his older brother Terra and older his sister Aqua were waiting for him.  
“Morning Ven. Took you long enough,” Terra said, “that alarm clock was going off forever!”  
“Ven! You hopeless sleepy head! We thought we were going to have to drag out of bed!” Aqua giggled. Ventus shrugged. He remembered that when he was younger he hated that nickname. Now he goes by Ven. “Give me a break guys,” Ven replied.  
The three of them lived alone. Terra and Aqua were both 19 while Ven is only 14 and in high school. Their father had passed away, and their mother’s job sent her all around the world. Ven didn’t remember her much as she’d been away most of his life, but Terra and Aqua would always tell him about her.  
“What’s for breakfast?” Ven asked.  
“I figured that a new school deserves pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon,” Aqua said bringing a plate of food to him. “I know they're your favorite.”  
Ven blinked for a minute and a smile spread across his face. “Thanks, Aqua! You’re the best!” he said. He quickly ate up, brushed his teeth and got ready for school. He grabbed his skateboard and skateboarded to the bus stop and waited for the bus. Another boy around Ven’s age walked up to where Ven was standing. Suddenly, Ven’s eyes shifted weirdly for just a second and he saw a huge light erupt from the boy standing near him. It was as if the sun itself had exploded, and the light nearly blinded Ven. His eyes then reverted back to normal. For whatever reason this made Ven feel the need to speak with the boy.  
“Hey,” Ven said, “I’m Ventus. Call me Ven.” For a few moments there was silence, then the boy turned to Ven. He had rosy red spiky hair and a small yet strong figure. He was wearing a fierce collared shirt and a red tie. Everything about the boy screamed strong. Loyal. Trustworthy. Even if a bit cocky.  
“Adell.” The boy said. “Nice to meet you.”  
“Likewise,” Ven responded.  
“You new here?” Adell asked.  
“I’ve lived here for a while, but this is my first day going to this school,” Ven replied. The two boys chatted for a while, then the bus finally pulled up. By the time they had gotten to the school, they were best friends. As luck would have it, the boys both had the same homeroom. Once everyone was settled in the class, the teacher, Mrs. Marcy quieted the class and then proceeded to introduce Ven.  
“Today we have a new student,” she said. “Everyone, I would like for you to meet Ventus.” Both the teacher and Ven heard a girl say “ Ventus? That’s a stupid name.” Ven’s face went red with anger, but he was quickly able to suppress it. He knew that showing the girl any reaction would only lead to more trouble. Mrs. Marcy shot the girl a look.  
“Maybe you should focus more on your grades than on someone’s name Mckenzie,” Ms. Marcy said, “or must I remind you that you have the lowest grade point average in this in this class ?” Mckenzie looked a bit angry.  
“What’s that supposed to mean huh?” she said, with a sour look on her face. Another voice rang from a girl in the middle of the room  
“It means your stupid, stupid,” she said. Ven traced the voice to a girl with platinum blonde hair sparkling blue eyes. The same light that he saw from Adell flashed from her, but the light had a different feel. Kind. Beautiful. Gentle, yet rough around the edges. Kind of like a rose, but with thorns. Ven felt like an arrow had struck through him. He had a crush.  
“Patty, I think that’s enough from the peanut gallery. Don’t you?” Ms. Marcy asked.  
“Ventus? Would you like to continue?” Mrs. Marcy continued, turning back to Ven.  
“Yeah,” Ven said snapping out of his trance. “I live with my brother and my sister Terra and Aqua. My mom spends most of her time traveling on work terms, so normally it’s just us.”  
“What about your dad?” A voice rang. It was Patty.  
“He passed away when I was really little,” Ven said, face drooping. Patty appeared to regret asking that question.  
“Sorry to make you bring that up.” she apologized.  
“It’s fine,” Ven responded. After fully introducing himself he proceeded to his seat next to Adell, and also ended up next to Patty as well. The class went on for a while then halfway through Ven felt something hit his neck. He turned around and saw Mckenzie holding A mechanical pencil with an army of lead She began pushing the lead out of the pencil and then flicking it at Ventus’ head. He tried to ignore it, but it went on for ten minutes. Finally, Ven shot Mckenzie a look as about 17 rounds of lead ammunition flew at him. Suddenly Ven’s eyes began to glow green, and all of the lead coming at him stopped, floated in mid-air, and was then shot back at Mckenzie. Her face shifted into shock as all of the lead smacked her in the face. Ven did not know what exactly had just happened, but he did know that Mckenzie’s assault on him did not continue.  
After a few classes, Ventus, Patty, and Adell went to the lunch room. Adell and Patty both told Ven that since he was new here he should try to keep a low profile. Yet that did not go… as expected. After everyone got their lunch, the group proceeded to sit at the only empty lunch table in the cafeteria. After a few minutes, a group of huge boys all wearing school mascot coats came up to the table. The Jocks of the football team.  
“Hey punks, these seats are reserved.” one of them said. Patty and Adell both stood up and apologized. The beckoned Ven to get up and let the jocks have their table, but he didn’t move.  
“Heya punk, how ‘bout you follow those friends of yours. They know what could happen to them if they don’t move. ” The jock spat all over the place as he spoke.  
“Maybe If you spit less and talk more I’d be able to understand you,” Ven said.  
The jock ran for Ven and threw a punch at him as green glowing sensation struck his eyes again. Ven swiftly dodged the punch and landed a kick on the jock’s jaw. The rest of the jocks charged at Ventus, and he braced himself. The students noticed what was going on. One jock threw a punch which Ven dodged, and then low swept the jock causing him to fall. The idiot behind the one Ven swept tripped over the injured boy on the floor straight into Ven’s knee. He then jumped and landed on the shoulders of two jocks and smacked both of their heads together, causing them both to fall onto the ground. While the others were reluctant to continue fighting Ven, one jock, the team captain no less, jumped and attempted to tackle him. Everyone knew what was about to happen as soon as Ven moved. In slow motion, Ventus slid under his opponent, kicked him in the stomach, stood up after coming from under the jock, and then landed the hardest kick he could muster into the captain's crotch. The impact of his foot and the jock’s crotch was heard by everyone in the room. It had sounded like a water balloon had burst.  
“A star football player without his cup huh? Well, at least you won’t have to worry about needing one anymore. It’ll heal. Hopefully.” Ven said, looking at the jock withering in pain on the floor. “So. Who’s next?” he asked looking at the rest of the jocks. They practically trampled each other to death as they ran away screaming like toddlers. Before the end of the lunch period, there were about 13 videos if Ven beating the life out of those wimps. Soon after a few more classes, the school dismissal bell rang.  
“What happened to keeping a low profile,” Adell asked chuckling, “and where’d you learn to fight like that?” Ven shrugged.  
“Guess I was just in the moment,” he replied. In reality, he was just as confused as Adell was. His vision had turned green and he saw all of the openings those idiots left in their attacks.  
“Thanks for giving 'em the beatdown Venny.” Patty chimed. Ventus’ face turned red.  
“V-Venny?” He asked.  
“Yep,” Patty said joyfully, “nice nickname huh? Those smelly jocks have been trying to hit on me for a while. They might’ve had a 1% chance if their breath wasn’t hotter than an active volcano.” she said.  
“Yeah no kidding,” Adell added. “You ever tried talking to one of those guys? It’s impossible to keep a straight expression when that smell is blowing in your face!”  
The three of them shared a great laugh, and Ventus knew that he had found the best friends he could ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it begins! I really enjoyed writing fighting sequence between Ventus and the football team. I used the word jock too many times I'm sure, but whatever. 
> 
> Also when Ventus' eyes glow green it means one of two things. One is a bit of a spoiler so I won't tell, but the other is kind of like a reaction command. I always had a headcanon that reaction commands make the users eyes glow green, so I used that.


	2. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ven rides the bus home, and Terra and Aqua are hiding something, but for how long?

 

Ven and Adell headed to their bus and Patty followed. The boys soon found out that Patty rides the same bus they do. As Ven got on the bus there was an immediate scream at a pitch barely low enough for a human to hear. A pitch higher and only dogs would be able to hear it. Still, however, every dog within a hundred square miles could be heard barking. Half the football team was riding the same bus as Ven, Adell, and Patty. They all rushed to the back of the bus, causing it to nearly tip over. Eventually, the bus started moving. The ride home was mostly straight forward. _Mostly_. Patty snagged the spot next to Ventus before Adell could, and she stuck out her tongue at him. Ventus then got a clear look at her. She had platinum blonde hair, rosy cheeks, silky smooth looking skin, and beautiful blue eyes. She was wearing long jeans and a short red shirt. He tried not to make it obvious that he was staring but Patty caught his eye.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing!” Ven replied nervously. “Nothing at all.”

Patty smiled. Something about Ven just seemed to pull her in. She barely knew him yet she already had a crush. She knew that Ventus was eying her, and she tried to work up the courage to flirt with him, but she couldn’t.

When the bus pulled up to Ven and Adell’s stop the two of them got off the bus but weren’t the only ones. Ventus felt like something was burning a hole in the back of his head. He turned around to see Mckenzie giving him the most terrifying death stare he had ever seen his entire life, yet it was at the same time, hilarious. He also surprised that her face could make such an expression. She may have been a jerk, but she was pretty.  He was able to pull out his phone and take a picture of Mckenzie’s face faster than she could blink. After realizing that Ventus just snapped a picture of her face, she got really angry, and with an even angrier scream, she chased him but was unable to continue due to the witness account. Luckily she didn’t get far enough to see where he lives, otherwise, she probably would burn his house down with that glare of hers. Upon rushing in the door painting heavily, Terra and Aqua, who both had just gotten home after their first shifts at their jobs, and were sitting at a table playing Uno, both stared at him wondering why he was breathing so hard.

“Why are you painting so hard?” Terra asked. Your lungs sound like they’re about to collapse.” Terra then started drinking the last of his soda which was sitting next to him.

“Are you okay?” Aqua asked.

“No. I was running from _this_.” Ven explained. He showed her the picture of Mckenzie’s death stare.

“ _Woah_. That’s so… intense. ” Aqua responded with shock in her voice.

“I know,” Ventus said.

  “Well, did anything eventful happen today?” Aqua asked.

“There are 13 videos on the internet that can answer that question,” Ven replied. When Ven showed them the videos, Terra spat his drink out all over the place, and Aqua’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. One of the kids even caught the entire thing, from start to finish, on video. They even caught all of the dialogue. Terra and Aqua both stared at Ven in awe.

“Where did you learn to fight like that!?” Terra yelled, with his jaw still practically hanging off his face.

“Good question,” Aqua added. Clearing her throat she then said, “ _Where_ _exactly did you learn that Ven?”_ Something about the way she said that was… suspicious. Terra flashed a look at Aqua. They were hiding something.

“Well,” Terra said, breaking the silence, “did anything _else_ happen today?”

“I made two new friends today,” Ven replied, “Adell and Patty.”

“What are they like?”  Aqua asked.

“Adell is really tough looking but he’s actually a pretty big softy, and Patty is….” There was a pause.

“Something wrong Ven?” Terra asked.

“Well I… kinda... have a crush on Patty….” Ven said reluctantly.

 “Oooooooooooooooooooooooh” Aqua responded.

“Quiet Aqua,” Ven replied. “ I don’t have any homework either, so I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.” As Ven went up the stairs Aqua and Terra both went silent.

“So it’s finally happening,” Terra said.

“We can’t keep it a secret for much longer,” Aqua responded. Suddenly, a flash of light erupted from both Terra and Aqua’s arms. A strange tattoo stretched it’s way through Aqua’s arm, while a large ball of light shifted its way around Terra’s arm forming into a giant appendage.

“It’s been a while hasn't it?” Terra asked, with a stern expression on his face.

“It has…” Aqua replied. “We haven’t needed to draw out our weapons in 3 years, and now Ven’s weapon is drawing near to forming. Something bad is coming. That must be why this is happening now of all times...”

“For now we’ll just have to keep an eye on him,” Terra added. “We still don’t know what his weapon will form as. If it goes out of control… we may have to...” tears began to roll down their eyes.

“That won’t happen!!” Aqua yelled. “We can’t… no, we _won’t_ do that to him. We lost our father to that chaos… we can’t lose Ven to.” Aqua said. Her voice trembled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is it Terra and Aqua hiding? And Patty feels the same way toward Ven...
> 
> One thing is certain though... Scroll down to find out something that isn't a spoiler, but something everyone should know. 
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> Aqua is the classic big sister who teases you when it comes to girls.


	3. Another dream, Another story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Ventus has another dream, Terra and Aqua go through another story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these are going to be uploaded on the same day because I've been writing this for a like 3 months.

 

That night when Ven went to sleep, he saw himself floating in darkness again. This time a giant door appeared before him. The words that the voice had spoken the last time he dreamt were ringing through his head. “Open the door,” he said. At that very moment, there was a huge blast of light, and the door opened. Behind it was a small floating green orb. It flew toward Ventus and then took a shape, forming into a phantom of him. It was a dark silhouette that had no face. Just glowing red eyes. Ven then felt something solid from beneath his feet. It was a giant pillar of stained glass which depicted him sleeping, and a picture of Terra and Aqua right next to him. Under the image of Aqua, there was a strange symbol. Beneath Terra, there was symbol depicting an arm like appendage with pillars of earth around it. There were two other pictures but the faces on it were shadowed. Beneath one of them, there were two gauntlets in a ring of fire. Beneath the second image were two pistols intertwined with roses scattered around them. Around the entire image, there was a chain wrapped around it. A small scythe was held in Ven’s hands that attached to the chain. The voice spoke to him once more.

“Believe in your strength Ventus. Your weapon will appear to you, only if you believe,” it said. “Do you believe?” it asked.

“Yeah,” Ventus said. “I do.” A scythe-like blade appeared in Ven’s hand, a chain then formed and stretched to his other hand, with a weight on the end of it. It was a chain and sickle.

“Now Ventus! Destroy the evil that lives within you!” the voice yelled. The silhouette began charging at Ventus. Ven braced himself and his eyes began to glow green. He blocked the first hit the silhouette attempted. The silhouette, now dubbed AntiVentus formed a chain and sickle within its hands and began fighting Ven. The two of them continued to clash but were equally matched in every way possible. Ven then noticed strange darkness forming on the image of the stained glass. Half of Ven’s body was covered in it.

 

Meanwhile, Terra and Aqua were in a fight of their own. Although Ventus was sleeping, his body was fighting Terra and Aqua. All three of them had their weapons drawn. But they were no longer in their home. Ventus’ “empty husk” had opened an entrance to a dimensional plane that exists between their dimension and all others. A shadowzone. The three of them continued fighting, but Ven was too powerful to be subdued without force. Terra and Aqua looked at each other, and they were both thinking the same thing.

“Try not to overdo it Aqua! Ven is still in there. Fighting for control!” Terra yelled.

“Same goes to you Terra!” Aqua yelled. “We can’t let Ven die! Not here, and not now!”

Terra’s weapon began to pull rocks from the ground. They wrapped around his arm and he threw a punch at Ventus.  A wind gust sliced straight through Terra’s attack shattering the rock. Ven spun the chain around creating a tornado. Terra pulled a chunk of earth from the ground to shield himself but the wind cut right through it. Terra was able to jump and dodge the gust of wind. From behind Terra, Aqua jumped and shot orbs of water at Ven, but he sent them back at her. Using a barrier spell of her own, she sent the attack back at Ven again and this time he was unable to volley the blast back. He used the wind as a barrier to block the attack completely, then shot the barrier as a gust of wind toward Terra and Aqua. Terra jumped in front of Aqua and made a shield of rock. Aqua then formed a barrier around Terra’s earth shield right before Ven’s blast reached them. Terra and Aqua forced the combined shields forward toward Ven’s attack. The energies collided and engaged in a blast struggle.  Putting their energy together Terra and Aqua broke through Ven’s attack. It flew toward him and the impact sent him flying. Terra Aqua and were both running out of energy.

“I don’t know how much longer we can keep pulling our punches!” Terra yelled.

“Come on Ven! I know your still in there! Fight it!” Aqua yelled. Within Ven’s soul, he and the AntiVentus were still fighting. Ven shot a gust of wind at the AntiVentus, which was blocked. AntiVentus then threw the chain weight at Ven. Ven was able to deflect the weight and grab the chain. He pulled it and AntiVentus came flying toward him. Ven was just about to slice it in half, but a gust of wind with the strength of a blade formed around AntiVentus catching Ventus’ attack. AntiVentus then jumped back and cloned itself, surrounding Ventus. The AntiVentus clones all threw the blades of their weapons at him. The green glow of Ven’s eyes intensified and a slicing gust of wind immediately cut through the clones. After the clones disappeared, and the real one was identified, Ventus jumped and cut right through it. There was a giant explosion of wind and light as AntiVentus’ two halves hit the ground. It spoke two words before disappearing in a blinding flash.“You pass.” After it disappeared. The darkness around the stained glass Ventus began to crack. When it shattered there was a bright light that sucked him from the dream. When he woke up, he saw Terra propping up Aqua as both held their weapons pointing at him.

“Terra! Aqua!” he yelled. He then felt something in his hands. It was the chain and sickle. As it disappeared from his hands, Ven felt like something cut right through him and sapped all of his energy. Ven fell to the ground. Terra and Aqua ran toward him.

“What’s happening to me?” Ventus asked weakly.

“There is a lot you don’t know Ventus,” Terra said. Ven felt someone’s hand enter his. It was Aqua.

“When you wake up, I promise you Ven. No more secrets.” Aqua said. It was the last thing he heard before he drifted into a deep sleep.


	4. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Within his sleep, Ventus is greeted by a bloodcurdling nightmare

Ventus heard a scream. He opened his eyes looked around only to see nothingness. He couldn’t tell if it was just dark or if he was staring into a void. Heck, the only way he knew his were even open was the fact that he could feel his them blinking. He couldn’t even see his own hands. He continued searching the through void until he saw a light. “Ven!” the person yelled. It was Aqua. “Hang on Aqua! I’m on my way!” “N- No! St- STOP!” Aqua screamed. “What’s wrong!? What’s going on!?” Ven continued flying through the void towards the light, even though the void was trying to pull him back. Ven triumphed over the void and erupted through the light. He felt like he was breaking through a thin wall. The light blinded him. He heard what sounded like...bones snapping? He thought it was the wall until he opened his eyes. He saw Aqua. He saw the fear in her eyes. Her screams were ear-splitting. Half of Ventus’ body had erupted from her side. He looked at her. Tears welled in his eyes. The rest of him was ripped out of her, and he hit the ground. He saw three people. A man he didn’t recognize, a woman he did know, at least he thought he did, and Terra looking at him with disgust in their eyes. He turned to see his dear sister on the floor dead. “Wha-?! What did I do!?” He yelled. “What is it saying?” He heard the woman ask. “Disgusting,” Terra said. “You make me sick.” The man added. Suddenly the three of them began to shake, then scream. Ven watched as each of their bodies snapped crunched and contorted. He then saw three dismembered and disfigured monstrous looking creatures erupt from their bodies. One ripped its way through the woman’s stomach. Another one came from Terra’s back. From the mysterious man, a dark mist spewed from his body and tore at the man’s skin. The mist began to materialize as one of the monstrous looking creatures and forcefully tore its way out of the man’s body. All of the monsters turned to face Ventus. In unison and in his voice they all said, “Why are you so afraid? Haven’t you ever seen your own reflection?”


	5. Awakenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ventus awakens, but how long was he asleep, where is he, and what are those two doing here?

Ventus screamed. There was a glossy look in his eyes, almost as if he was still sleeping. He was in a hospital bed, and he'd just flatlined.

“Ven!” Aqua cried, running toward him. Ven’s screams continued.

“Ven!” Terra yelled, following Aqua. Ven’s screams got even worse, and he began shaking violently. Doctors and medics began to rush in.

“Strap him down!” One of them yelled.

“I’ve got his left arm!”

“I’ve got his right!”

“Right leg!”

“Left leg! Got it!”

Ven’s screams continued and his shaking started ripping the restraints like paper.

“ Is he… dying?! Is he okay?!” Aqua yelled.

“What the heck is going on!?” Terra yelled.

“I think he’s awake!”

“The straps are breaking!!”

“Medicine!! Now!!”  

Ventus went silent. His body flopped back onto the hospital bed and the glaze over his eyes slowly faded. Once it was gone Ventus groaned.

“He's okay!” One of the medics yelled. “Go ahead and undo the restraints.” After doing so, the doctors all left the room.

“Oh, Ventus! It’s a miracle! ” Aqua yelled embracing him in a tight hug.

“Okay! Okay! I’m… I’m fine,” Ven replied, “just a bad dream. That's all.”  Ven said sitting up. He was panting still heavily. Seeing Aqua alive was a relief, but it still scared him. “How long was I out for?” He asked looking around.

“A week and some change,” Terra answered, placing a hand on Ven’s shoulder. “I’m glad you're okay.”  

“I’m glad to be okay too and- Wait. Did you say I was asleep for a WEEK!?” Ven exclaimed.

“Yes," Aqua answered. "We were really worried about you Ven! You flatlined 20 times! Don’t _ever_ scare us like that again!” Ven could feel her trembling. Was she... Crying? He returned the hug and attempted to comfort her.

"I'm okay Aqua. You don't need to worry anymore." Aqua wiped her eyes and reasserted herself.

"Thank you." She said, calming down.   

The sounds of more yelling came from the hall outside of the door.

“Hey! you can’t just barge in here!” A voice yelled.

“Get back he-! SECURITY!” Another voice yelled.

In the doorway, Ventus saw Adell and Patty come through. There was a glaze over their eyes as if they weren’t there as well. The glaze over their eyes began to disappear as they realized where they were. Before questioning their own welfare they questioned why Ventus was in a hospital bed.

“Ven?” Adell asked.

“Venny?” Patty asked. “What happened to you?”

Terra and Aqua had confused looks on their faces looking at Adell and Patty.

“Who are these two?” Terra asked.

“Do you know them Ven?” Aqua asked.

“Yeah. That’s Adell.  The girl next to him is Patty. But the real questi-” Ven was cut off by Aqua.

“Oh. So she’s the one y-” Aqua started.

 “SHUT IT!!” Ven yelled. His face was flushed with red.

“Hmm? Oh! Sorry, _Venny._ ” Aqua said with a giggle in her voice. Ven flashed an angry look at her. What happened to all of that worrying? He hated when Aqua was worried about him, but he would rather that then have Aqua blab about his love life. _“Why did I tell her?”_ he thought to himself.

Clearing his throat, Ventus continued.  “The real question is, how did you guys know I was here?” Patty and Adell took this time to fully question how they actually got there in the first place.

“Last thing I remember I was having a weird dream. Then there was a flash of light and well… here I am. Everything between is a big blank. Patty said.

“Same here. Before the flash of light, I saw something weird. There was a giant stained glass pillar. I saw myself with two gauntlets in my hands wrapped in fire. I also saw two faces, but they were covered by a shadow. Under one was some kind of scythe with a chain wrapped around it. The other had two pistols crossed with roses scattered around them.” Adell said.  

While Terra and Aqua exchanged a look, almost as if the were physically communicating, Ven started thinking. “You too huh? What’s going on? ” he said under his breath. Suddenly two men wearing security guard outfits burst in the door and grabbed Patty and Adell.

“You’re coming with us!” one yelled.

“Were they bothering you kid?” the other asked.

“No, no they’re fine. Let them stay.” Ventus replied.

“Well… alright. You’re off the hook for now,”  one of the guards said, “but if I hear of any complaints or trouble, then you're out of here. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Adell said. “Loud and clear.”

“I got it,” Patty said. The guards let them go and disappeared into the hallway.

“Well anyway, should get out of here,” Ven said getting out of the hospital bed. Once he got out of the hospital bed the first thing he noticed was that Patty’s face turned blood red. He then realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes.

“Oh shi-”  

Aqua quickly grabbed the bag with Ven’s clothes in it and threw it to him. He caught it and quickly kicked everyone out. A few minutes later he walked out fully clothed.

“S- so where to?” he stammered.

Well, it’s currently Friday night, so there’s no school tomorrow. Terra replied.  
“Wait...” Aqua said. “Do your parents know you're here?”

“OH CRAP!!!” Adell yelled. “I’ve gotta get back home before my parents realize I’m gone!” He was just about to charge away before Ven yelled at him.

“Meet me at my house tomorrow!”

“Got it! Wait. I don’t know your which house is yours.” Adell replied.

“Right. How about the front?”

“Got it!”  

Adell shot off like a rocket.

Patty, her face still red, realized that she should probably head off to.

“Heya Patty? Meet me and Adell the front of our neighborhood. Terra and Aqua said that they need to tell us something. Do you know how to get there?”

Patty jumped at the sound of Ventus’ voice.

“Y-yeah s-sure. S-see ya then huh? She stuttered. She took off in the same direction Adell went.

“So…” Aqua said breaking the silence, “That Patty girl is really cute.”

“Aqua? Just stop.” Terra responded.

“Let’s head home guys,” Ven said. Aqua and Terra nodded in agreement.


	6. Judgement (Adell and Patty only)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patty and Adell return home, but they have to finish what they started in their sleep

Adell and Patty were both able to slip back into their homes as if they never left. That same night Patty and Adell both found themselves floating in darkness, in front of them a giant door. The next thing the two of them noticed was that they were floating right next to each other.   
“Adell?” She thought.   
“Patty? What the-? I can hear your voice in my head!” Adell responded. “And where are we anyway?”  
Both of them slowly floated and landed on two separate stained glass pillars. Bellow Adell was his pillar. Patty finally saw hers for the first time. She saw herself holding two pistols with a rosy pink glow around them. There were two faces shrouded in shadows next to her. Under one was a scythe with a chain attached to it. Under the other were two gauntlets wrapped in fire. They then felt like something- no, someONE was speaking to them.  
“You’ve bonded with him.” The voice said. “You have accessed unimaginable strength as well.   
“From who? What are you talking about?” Patty asked.  
“Is it really that difficult to understand Patricia?” The voice responded. She cringed to the use of her full name.  
There was a sudden burst of light and one of the faces were revealed on both Patty and Adell’s pillar. It was Ventus. A bridge began to form from small slivers of light linking Patty and Adell’s pillars together. Suddenly the giant door opened and a red light along with a pink light floated toward them.  
The voice spoke once more. “The same test that passed judgment to him shall judge the two of you as well.”   
The lights began to take shape. The red light turned into darkness and took the shape of Adell and the pink light did the same while taking the shape of Patty. Adell felt something form in his hands. Two gauntlets formed as flames raged around them. Patty formed two pistols in her hand as rose petals scattered around them. Anti Adell and AntiPatty mimicked their weapons. The two Antiformes rushed at the pair. Adell quickly punched at his Antiform sending a wave of fire toward it. AntiAdell swiftly dodged it and rushed at Adell covered in flames. Meanwhile, Patty was fighting her dark clone. Bracing herself she began shooting at AntiPatty with aim so precise the only way to dodge was to deflect the shots completely, which was a task easier said than done, yet AntiPatty was able to do so successfully, following up with counter fire. The battle between the four of them continued to rage on. The darkness on Adell’s image was beginning to crack while the darkness on Patty’s image was only growing thicker. Adell began losing his patience with his opponent. His eyes began to glow red, then going for one final attack, Adell rushed at AntiAdell and grabbed it by the neck, slammed it against the darkness on his image causing the darkness to crack even more, and continued slamming it against the darkness repeatedly for two minutes straight until there was only a piece of it unscathed. He finally raised it up still holding it by the neck and sent a burst of fire through its body, causing it to slowly stop struggling. It eventually became limp and completely devoid of movement. Adell then crushed its neck and it disappeared from his grip. The darkness around his image shattered completely. For Patty though, it was not that easy. Adell attempted to help her, but a barrier blocked him out. Patty’s opponent wasn’t letting up on the attacks. AntiPatty ruthlessly chased her down no matter where she went. Patty kept shooting at it, but it just deflected her shots and returned fire. Patty then realized that just shooting at it wasn’t going to work.   
“Karate classes don’t fail me now,” she mumbled. She began adding physical attacks in her fighting style. Her eyes began to glow pink. She rushed at AntiPatty and landed a kick to its jaw. She backed up and waited for it to attack. It tried to mimic her kick, but Patty was anticipating it. Moving at blinding speed she got behind AntiPatty, stuck both guns to its back, and put all of her energy into her pistols and shot it. A huge burst of energy erupted from the pistols sending AntiPatty twenty feet in the air, and Patty jumped up, and appeared above it and kicked it downward, and then her pistols began to float around her and both fused to form a minigun.   
“This rose has thorns!” She said. She opened fire, and the burst rounds tore AntiPatty to shreds. The remaining pieces of it hit the ground and disappeared. Patty gracefully landed on her feet as the darkness around her image shattered. Patty and Adell both heard the voice again.  
“Adell. Patricia. Yo-” The voice started.  
“Stop calling me that. My name is Patty.” There was a slight hint of frustration in her voice.   
“So be it. But be warned. You will have have to face your demons eventually.” The voice responded.  
“Face your demons? Adell asked. “What is he talking about?   
Patty looked down and a shadow was cast across her face.   
“It doesn’t matter right now.” She responded. “Like he said. I’ll have to face them eventually. But not yet.”   
“Seek out Ventus, Terra, and Aqua.” the voice continued. “Terra and Aqua will teach you how to use your weapons effectively. Ventus will train alongside you. Your training will begin tomorrow. Get some rest you two. You’ll need it.”


	7. Awakening pt2 (Patty)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouch, my heart.

Patty woke to find her Foster mother, Angie, sitting at the foot of her bed.

“You okay Patty? You were talking in your sleep. Something about … What was it?  Ventus I think?” she said. Patty jumped at the mention of his name.

“Oh. Yeah. Venny. He’s a friend of mine.”Patty explained.

“Ooooh, A boy hmm? What’s he like? Is he cute?” Ms. Angie asked. “What’s the scoop? I wanna know all about him!”

“Maybe tomorrow Ms. Angie,” Patty responded.

“Hm. So it’s private. Well, you don’t have to tell me about him. I was just hoping to get a little closer to you. It’s been a while since the incident and, well… nevermind. You don’t have to call me Ms. Angie either you know. It’s a little too formal for my tastes. You can just call me Mom. At least if you want to.”Angie replied. She was worried about mentioning the “m” word around Patty after the incident where her mother randomly attacked and killed her father and her brother along with her sister. Patty survived by hiding somewhere her mother couldn’t find her. She called the police, and they took care of the rest. From that day on, Patty abandoned her full name Patricia, the name her mother chose, started to go by what her dad always used to call her, Patty.  
Patty gave her a warm smile and thanked her.

She rolled over back into her bed and said, “Goodnight Mom. I love you." Ms.Angie was caught off guard by Patty’s sudden affection.

“Goodnight sweetie,” she responded. Once Ms.Angie left her room, Patty cried silently into her pillow for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've watched the anime Soul Eater then you'd probably know who I would use as Patty's siblings. If not then
> 
> 1\. Go watch that anime (It might help you know who some of the other characters seen in the future are)
> 
> 2\. The characters would be Death the kid (Kid) and Elizabeth Thomson (Liz)


	8. Awakening pt2 (Adell)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouch my heart pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but it hurts. It hurts so much.

Adell woke up to hear his parents arguing.

"You always do this! Adell needs you! He's been going through emotional struggle, and so have I! And what do you do!? You work most of the day, then you don't come home until 3 in the morning and 75% of the time you're drunk!? How do I know you're not out there cheating on me!? That you're not out with other women!? What am I supposed to think!?" His mom yelled.

"You think I'm out with other women!? I thought you trusted me!! Just cause I'm out that doesn't mean I'm doing anything wrong!!" His dad yelled back.

"Then what are you always doing huh!?" What is it that's so important you can't tell me!?" His mom yelled in response.

There was Silence.

"You still can't tell me? ... Fine! If what you're doing when you're aren't here is more important than me and you're own son, then..."

She lowered her voice, but Adell could still hear the five most dreadful words he hoped he'd never hear loud and clear.

"Maybe we should get a divor-" He didn't want her to finish that word. He poped on some earbuds and drowned himself in music until he finally fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are not the same parents that Adell had in Disgaea 2. In that game, Adell's parents had a great relationship.


	9. Future masters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRAINING TIIIIIIIIIME

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this, I had the Land of departure theme blasting. (The song that plays when Ventus, Terra, and Aqua spar in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep)

 

The next day at noon the trio met up in the front of Ventus’ neighborhood. “Alright,” Ven said. “I’ll show you the way to my house.” Ven guided Adell and Patty to his house, and Terra and Aqua were standing out front.

“Great!” Aqua said cheerfully. “Everyone’s here!”

“I’m sure by now that the three of you are wondering what’s been going on, but you’re all here to finally get your answer,” Terra said. “But first, let’s start with formal introductions. I’m Terra. Ventus’ brother.”

“I’m Aqua. Ventus’ sister.

“Name’s Adell. A pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Patty. Nice to meet you.”

“Great. Now that that’s all settled, let’s get this party started !” Terra exclaimed. He put his hand outward and a shatter appeared in thin air. It broke to reveal the exact image of everything that was originally behind the shatter.

“Woah!!!” Ven exclaimed.  Adell and Patty both stared in awe.

“In here.” Aqua beckoned them. The all stepped into the rift. They came out to see they were standing where they originally were, but it felt a little different somehow.  

“Wait a sec. Weren't we just standing here?” Patty asked.

“Yep. But don’t you feel it too?” Aqua asked. “It’s a little different here.”

“Yeah. I do.” Patty responded. “What’s with this place anyway?”

“It’s a plane that exists between our dimension,”  Terra said. “The only difference is, we can’t be seen by the outside world,  we also can’t touch anyone except for each other. There are more differences but they’re minor. Well, there are more differences, but you three aren’t ready for those just yet. Now that we’ve settled that, let’s actually start training. Draw your weapons. You should be able to at this point. ”

“I don’t really know if I can, but I’ll try,” Patty said. She concentrated, and her pistols formed in her hands, as rose petals scattered around her. Adell did the same and flames raged around him as he formed his gauntlets. Ventus finally formed his chin and sickle and a huge gust of wind blasted through the area, nearly blowing everyone away.

“Whoa.” Terra and Aqua said in unison.

“Yeah, no kidding” Adell and Patty both responded.

Terra and Aqua both formed their weapons.

“Now it’s time to get serious!” Terra yelled.

He rushed up to Ventus and punched him in the gut with the force of a bolder. Ventus was sent flying into the air.

“Is that all you got?” Ventus yelled from the air. “You're the one at a disadvantage!”

“We’ll see about that!” Terra yelled back.  He jumped into the air and summoned a rock pillar from underneath himself, and kicked off of it to fly even higher into the air. But Ven was ready for Terra and had anticipated his move. He smiled as he waited a few more seconds.  

“Wait for it… Wait for it… Gotcha!” Ven yelled. He swung the weight of the chain and sickle and it flew at Terra. His only option was to block Ven’s attack, but his rush toward Ventus was cut off, causing Terra to plummet downward.

“Well done, Ven!” He exclaimed. “Catching your opponent off guard is always a smart strategy, except for one thing,” Terra said. “You didn’t anticipate this!” He grabbed the chain of Ventus’ weapon and pulled it. Naturally, Ventus came flying toward him.

“Ah-ah,” Ventus smirked. “I think you’re the one forgetting something. I don’t just have a weapon that uses wind.”

Suddenly a gust of wind hit the part of the chain behind Terra, wrapping him in it. Ven then yanked the chain really hard, spinning Terra around so fast that he nearly created a twister. Ventus followed up by smacking Terra in the face with the weight of the chain in the middle of his spin, sending him flying downward. He hit the ground with an earth-shaking thump. Ven came flying down and used a gust of wind to slow his plummet downwards.

“How was that?” Ven asked. For a few moments, Terra didn’t respond. Ven started to think that he may have overdone it. But then Terra’s body began to move. It quickly became evident that his head had gotten stuck in the ground during the impact. When he finally yanked his head from out of the ground and got most of the dirt off his face he coughed awkwardly.

“Remind me never to underestimate you ever again. Next time I’ll remember to fight you with full force,” he said.

“I’ll look forward to it,” Ventus said.

“Seriously Terra? You make it sound like you threw the fight. To me, it looks like you lost the fight.” Aqua said laughing. “But you had your crack at one of our future masters. Now it’s my turn. Common Patty. Let’s see what you’ve got.

“Okay. Just… go easy on me alright? I’m not as good as Venny.” Patty replied.

“What’s the story behind that nickname anyway?” Aqua asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

“Huh?”

“Sooooooooo. It’s like that?”                 ‘

“Like what?”

Aqua giggled.

Patty’s face turned red. “Huh!? You mean-!?”

“Make sure you go easy on him alright?” Aqua said.

“I don’t like him like- well maybe I do I-I just… how about we talk about this later!” Patty responded nervously.

“Alright then!” Aqua exclaimed. She quickly went on the offensive and began blasting orbs of water at Patty. She dodged them and started shooting back at Aqua. Aqua dodged Patty’s shots effortlessly, then decided to lessen the space between them. Aqua charged at Patty and went for a kick to her side. Patty smirked. Aqua made a mistake by getting up close and personal. She casually swatted Aqua’s foot away and counter-attacked. Aqua was caught off guard by the attack and wasn't in a good position to block it. The best thing she could do was take the hit, which she did, then she braced herself and watched Patty carefully, studying her possible movements and attacks. Aqua tried her luck again with an up close attack, but instead of kicking at Patty again, she forced her palm into Patty’s stomach at blinding speed, and sent an electrical pulse through her body, sending her flying.

“What? You thought water magic was the only magic I can use?” Aqua asked with a hint of cockiness in her voice. Patty, while flying backward, put her pistols behind herself instinctively, and held down the triggers. A blast of energy came out of the pistols and slowed her flight backward, then they began propelling her toward Aqua.

“I didn’t know I could do that,” Patty said with a smile. “Guess you learn something new every day!” She continued blasting herself toward Aqua, dodging all of her long-range attacks. Patty re-angled her pistols upwards, launching herself up. She spun herself around and swooped downward toward Aqua, pointed her pistols at her, and opened fire. Aqua created a shield of water around herself and Patty flew right into it.

“Gotcha Patty!” Aqua yelled. She sent a shock of electricity through the water, practically frying Patty. Aqua’s water shield faded and Patty fell out of the water and hit the ground. Hard. At first, she didn’t move, but she started to speak.

“Am I still alive?” she asked weakly. Ven walked up to Patty and leaned over her.

“Yep.” he responded.

“By the way, I can’t move,” Patty added.

“That was me.” Aqua chimed. “That shock I sent through the water paralyzed you instead of frying you. We can’t have you die right there you know.”

“All in favor of none of us not dying at all, raise your hand,” Ventus said. Everyone but Patty raised their hand, and everyone looked at her.

“Has it already been established that I can’t move?” Patty asked.

“Hey, Ven? It’s Adell’s turn. Could you pick up your girlfriend and move her out of the way?” Aqua asked.

“Shut it Aqua!” Ven yelled angrily. She responded by chuckling under her breath. Ven carefully picked Patty up, cradling her like she a small child, and moved her into the grass, propping her up against a tree.

“How long does the paralysis last anyway?” Ven asked.

“About a week,” Aqua responded. Patty looked at her in disbelief. Aqua immediately realized the calm before the storm.

“Relax. I’m just screwing around with you. It’ll wear off in a few hours or so.” Aqua said.  Patty let out a sigh of relief. Still, a few hours was a pretty long time. She wished she hadn’t been so reckless in their battle.

“Alright, Adell,” Terra said. “You ready? Since Aqua just took a crack at Patty, It’s my turn to take you on.”

“You lost once already. You ready to lose again?” Adell asked, clearly taunting Terra.

Terra twitched angrily. “Quite the cocky one aren’t we?”

“Since you lost,” Adell continued, “how about I take you and Aqua on at once?”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” Aqua asked. “If that’s how it’s gonna be, fine. I won’t kill you, but I won’t hold back either.”

Ven sighed nervously. “This isn’t gonna end well,” he said.

“I’m sure it won’t” Patty chimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy... 
> 
> I know Adell isn't cocky like this, but I'd decided to write characters this way to spice things up.


	10. Severe beatings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All you have to do is read it. Go ahead.

“Ready...” Adell said.

“GO!” Terra yelled. Both Terra and Aqua rushed for Adell. In response, Adell sent a wall of fire at them. Aqua created a water barrier around herself and charged right through it. Terra grabbed two chunks of rock from the ground, put one under himself and one over himself, and charged through the fire with no resistance.

“Crap,” Adell said under his breath. Terra threw one of the rocks at Adell and one at Aqua.

“Hey Aqua! Catch!” Terra yelled. Aqua jumped and landed on the chunk of rock. Aqua created a torrent of water under the rock guiding it like a surfboard. Adell punched the rock Terra threw at him, shattering it completely, but he still had Aqua to worry about. She continued surfing and blasting water at him, then she used water to split the rock into three smaller rocks, one of which she continued riding. She threw one rock, which Adell punched, continued surfing around, then threw the other. Adell was still able to repel both Terra and Aqua’s attacks so far and he was feeling quite cocky, as usual.

“I thought you two said you weren't holding back. Changed your minds?” He said. Terra and Aqua started losing their patience with Adell.

“For a trainee who just learned how to use his weapons correctly, you sure are full of yourself!”Terra yelled.

“Terra? Ready to show him what experience looks like?” Aqua asked.

“You sure? I don’t think he’s ready for that just yet.” Terra responded.

“What are you two talking about?” Adell asked. “Bring it on and I’ll smash right through it!”

“Heh. Your funeral I guess.” Terra shrugged. Terra and Aqua both disappeared from view. Adell, completely confused, held up a defensive stance. Suddenly Terra appeared right in front of him and punched him in the face. Really hard, then disappeared. Adell was completely disoriented by the blow, then Aqua appeared in front of him, and kneed him in the stomach, and disappeared. Immediately after Aqua vanished, Terra appeared again and bashed Adell into the ground, creating a huge crater. Aqua used water to push Adell out of the crater then hit him with an ice spell, then fire, followed by thunder, followed by a burst of water. Terra switched places with Aqua appearing in front of him then pulled a large boulder from the ground, hit Adell with it multiple times, fracturing after each hit into two smaller boulders, then three, then four, then five, until the boulder was a bunch of tiny rubble daggers which he still sheared Adell with. Finally, Terra and Aqua both appeared in front of Adell and punched in the face at the same time. From there they both disappeared and reappeared in unison punching, kicking, and thrashing at Adell. By this point, Adell was losing conscience, but Terra an Aqua’s attacks weren’t letting up. Aqua kicked him upward, Terra punched him back toward Aqua. In response she kicked him away, then Terra appeared in front of him smashed him downward and Aqua kicked him up again. Terra and Aqua continued knocking Adell back and forth between themselves repeatedly as if they were playing catch with his battered body. Eventually both Terra and Aqua appeared above him as he was flying upward. The two of them charged up a bunch of energy.

“You’re done!” Terra shouted.

“Enough!” Aqua yelled.

At once, they unleashed all of their energy into one big burst that rained downward toward Adell. There was a huge burst of energy and an ear-splitting blast before Adell’s unconscious body hit the ground, followed by Terra and Aqua, who both landed on their feet.

“Looks like we win,” Aqua smirked.

“Maybe we should have been easier on him,” Terra said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “The last thing we need is him, or any of them, dying on us.”

“Come on Terra, I said I wouldn’t kill him. He’s still alive at least.” Aqua whined. He eyed her, clearly surprised at her intimidating behavior, and her lack of mercy.

“What if he broke something?”

“That’s what healing spells are for.” She smiled. “Heal.” A green glow flushed over Adell and he groaned slightly.

“Wₕₐₜ dᵢd yₒᵤ ₕᵢₜ ₘₑ wᵢₜₕ?” He said, nearly breathlessly. Clearly, all the wind had been knocked out of his lungs.

“A warning,” Terra said. “Being too cocky will get you killed.”

“Oh.” He said, trying to sit up. “Nope. Not enough energy.” he flopped back down on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp... I bet that hurt.


	11. Unversed can be Reversed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spam "THE UNVERSED COME FROM YOU!?" memes here.

“Hey! I can move now!” Patty beamed. It had only been thirty minutes and Aqua’s spell was expected to last another few hours. Aqua smiled warmly at her.

 _“She’s developed a resistance already. Guess she’s growing faster than I thought she was”_ Aqua thought. Patty jumped up cheering, then tripped and fell over Ventus who had just begun to doze off.

“Guess I’m still recovering a bit.” She said. “Sorry.”

He didn’t respond. Well, not in words at least. It sounded like he was screaming something, but his voice was muffled. She finally realized that in her awkward fall, her _chest_ had been pressed against his face, practically suffocating him. Upon realizing this she jumped back, and her face was burning in a bright shade of red. Once his face was free, Ventus took a gasp for air as if he almost died, which he probably did.

“S-so-sorry!” she apologized. She wished apologizing would have erased the moment from existence.

“ Y-yo-you’re fi- I mean, it’s o- oka- Augh! You know what I’m trying to say, right?”Ven said, his face was full of confusion and embarrassment, not to mention burning to the point to where he felt it overheat his body.

“Y- yeah. L-lets j-j-just forget that happened.” She said.

Ven sneaked a peek at Adell, Aqua, and Terra, who were staring back at them, and all looked like they were holding in a huge laugh. They sure weren't doing a very good job at it either. Snickering filled the air until the three of them could hold the laughs no more. They began rolling on their sides with laughter, (or Adell _would_ have if he had enough energy, and his laugh was breathless) as tears began to roll down their eyes. Ven’s face burned even more with embarrassment. His eye started to twitch, and his annoyance embarrassment and anger began to well up until it came out of him. _Literally._ A small little purple creature with angry red eyes pushed its way out of his body twitching angrily as if it were irritated, sunk into a puddle went up to Aqua, Adell, and Terra, and swiped all of them all in the middle of their laughter with it’s tiny claw, causing them to stop and rub themselves where they had been scratched. It then scuttled back to Ventus and looked up at him, as if awaiting orders. He slowly reached out to pet it, as if afraid it would bite him. It jumped and nuzzled against his hand happily, causing Ventus to jump a bit, but he didn’t pull his hand back. In fact, he felt a bit _happy_ suddenly. A small bit of light came from his hand and wrapped around the small creature, and it’s red angry eyes turned blue and happy, followed by its purple body turning white. It happily climbed up Ven’s leg and climbed around his body so fast, it was almost a blur.

“Hey! Slow down!” Ven said, laughing.

“Guess he likes you,” Patty said, giggling.

“Can I even call it a ‘he’? Where it (or he) come from anyway?” Ven said to himself. The small creature jumped off of him holding something in its hand like ends of his arms.

“Whatcha got there little guy?” he asked. The small creature held up what it was holding to show Ven. It was a star made from green stained glass and some kind of metal. Aqua lit up when she saw what it was holding, and ran for it.

“Hey! Give that back!” she yelled at it. It twitched nervously, then ran away from her, and sank into the ground and began to flow toward Ven, and it came out of the ground hiding behind him, shivering fearfully.

“Stop it Aqua!” He yelled taking a defensive stance. “You’re scaring him!” Aqua stopped running at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Can you get that charm it?”

“Ok,” Ventus said. He turned around and kneeled to the small creature.

“Hey, little guy. I know Aqua scared you, but she didn’t mean you any harm. Can you just give me that thing you’re holding please?” Ven said, scratching behind its small antenna. It sheepishly passed gave the charm to him and then climbed up his arm, and perched itself on his shoulder. Ven handed Aqua the star-shaped… charm, Aqua called it?

“What is this thing anyway?” Ven asked looking at the charm.

“It’s for you Ven.” She said, rubbing the charm softly. “I gave it to you during your coma. It’s called a Wayfinder. Supposedly there’s this star-shaped fruit on a faraway island, and it’s said that sharing it with someone represents an unbreakable connection. Mom made one for me and Terra when we were your age, then she taught me how to make them. They don’t have a connection that strong, but I worked a little magic on them.” _I can say all of that but I have yet to fulfill my promise_. She thought.

“Thanks for the gift, and I know I was asleep for a week straight, but why call it a coma? It was only a week and a few days.” Ventus asked.

“Ven, you flatlined 20 times remember!? I told you that already!” She yelled.

“I… did? And… you told me… already?” I don’t remember… ” He clutched his forehead and staggered a little. Upon seeing the look on Aqua’s face, he stood up straight and shook it off the best he could. The last thing he needed was for Aqua to worry. He hated it when she worried.

The small little creature pulled on Ven’s collar to get his attention.

“Hm? What is it?” he asked. It stretched and waved at him. It then turned into a small orb of light and it floated back into Ventus’ body. When it entered he heard a voice. It was a bit high pitched, and a little fuzzy.

_“The Unversed can be Reversed.”_

“What?” Ven asked himself under his breath. The voice had definitely caught him off guard, but “ _The Unversed can be Reversed?_ ” What does that mean?.

“What was that thing anyway?” Terra asked, still rubbing his shoulder where the small creature hit him.

“An Unversed I'm guessing,” Ventus responded.

“An Unversed?!” Terra asked.

“I don’t really know what they are myself, but if I had to guess, it would likely have something to do with my emotional state.”

“Unversed!? How…!” Aqua trailed off, after hearing Ven’s response.

“What’s the matter Aqua?” Ven asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing. It’s fine.” Aqua responded. “Alright you three, it’s getting kind of late.”

“Late?” Adell asked, having regained some oxygen in his lungs. Glancing at his phone, he said: “It’s only five o'clock.”

“You must not remember how long it’s been. We’ve been here since twelve.” Patty said with her hands on her hips. “Five hours.”

“Huh. I guess time flies by when you’re winning fights.” Adell responded

“ _Winning?_ Last I checked you got your butt kicked into oblivion. The fact that you can’t even stand doesn’t help your case either.” Ven said.

“Yeah? You say that like you’re the best of all of us or something.” Adell said back.

“Well… Ventus _was_ the only one who didn’t lose.” Patty said.

“Well I… I uhhhhh... Ugh! Fine, you win. What, do you want a cookie or something?” Adell pouted.

“Wait a minute.” Ven interrupted. “That’s the first time you used my real name.”

“Oh. Really?” Patty asked shyly. “Well, would you rather me use my nickname for you?”

“I _guess_ it’s up to you,” Ven said. “Whatever makes you happy.” Patty smiled warmly.

“Okay then Ven, Ventus, and Venny,” she said mischievously. Ventus rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his blonde and spiky hair returned a warm smile.   

  “Well, we had better get you home,” Terra said. He created a shattered portal out of the shadow zone and everyone stepped out into the normal world.

  “You need a ride home, Patty?” Aqua asked.

“No. I don’t live that far. I live in the neighborhood next to this one, just down there.” She said, pointing to the trees that separate their neighborhood and her own.

“Alright then. See ya, Patty. You too Adell.” Ven said, with a cheesy smile. Patty smiled back and walked away toward her home, and Adell did the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ven can summon Unversed. Okay. It's fine. 
> 
> *Troubled sigh*
> 
> It's all good.


	12. Secrets Revealed?

As Ventus watched Patty and Adell walk home, he was turning around when he Aqua put her hand on his shoulder and kneeled down to him.

“Ven...?”

“Can you stop harassing me about Pa-”

“Ventus this is not a joke!” Aqua yelled at him as her grip on his shoulder tightened. Ven stiffened. Aqua only uses his full name if he’s in trouble or if something is very, _very_ wrong. An unversed of fear pushed its way out of him. It was similar to the one that came out of him earlier but was in a large boot. It tucked it’s head into the shoe and shivered fearfully, and Ven looked like he wanted to do the same thing.   

“Do you… remember everything that happened before you slipped into your coma?” Aqua asked sternly.

“ A-A little. It’s a bit fuzzy.”

“What about the last thing I told you? Do you remember that?” Aqua asked, her grip tightening a little more.

“N-Not really,” Ven said back. The way she was looking at him was more unnerving than he had ever seen her, and he started to cry.

“N-No Ven I-I didn’t mean to scare you! P-Please stop crying! I just… Oh, Ven” Aqua said, hugging him tightly, “you really are my younger brother, aren’t you? Just as soft as I remember... Before you drifted into sleep I promised you that there wouldn’t be any more secrets. Everything you know, about Mom. About Dad. About your powers. Your knowledge only scratches the surface. Now… there isn’t any reason to hide anything from you.”

“Common. Ven, Aqua. Let’s go home. We have a lot to talk about.” Terra said ruffling Ven’s hair.

Ven wiped his eyes to clear out the tears drowning his eyes.

“Yeah. Sure.” He responded. So that night when they went home, Terra and Aqua told him. Everything. And it changed. Everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short I know, but just bear with me guys. But secrets! What secrets? That's a secret!


	13. Back again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ventus returns to school!

  
  


  
  


Ventus soon found himself back in school, along with having a bunch of homework to make up. Lots of people were applauding Ven once he showed up for school. He would soon find out that Patty and Adell spread a bunch of rumors that Ven had a really bad case of the flu. One that he only had a 30% chance of surviving. Makes sense though. Ven spent an extra week or so out of school due to the physical/emotional toll it took on him to train and use his powers. Also as mentioned before, he had a mountain of homework to make up. So Ven dismissed the crowd and went on about his daily business. Mckenzie was still a jerk, the Jocks were still afraid of him, Adell and Patty were both great friends to hang around, and he always does his homework at any chance he gets. Usually, the moment the teacher gives out the homework, a few minutes later it was done. Ven sometimes wondered if his powers affected his intellect. Nevertheless, he was a Straight A student. Since he was so good at finishing his work, he always had time to sharpen his skills with his chain and sickle, which he began to call “Wayward Wind”. He remembered Terra and Aqua’s words from when the told him everything.

“Naming your weapon allows you to better your connection to it. The better the connection, the stronger the weapon.” those were Terra’s words, which were ringing in his head.

He had learned that Terra referred to his weapon as “Earthshaker”, and Aqua referred to hers as “Rainfell”. Their father’s Weapon was known as the “Master’s Defender.” Ven still didn’t know much about His father’s weapon, as in what it looked like or what shape it had taken. Either Terra and Aqua were still holding that information from him, or they didn’t really know much about it themselves. Mom’s weapon was called  “The Forgotten Embrace” and Terra and Aqua didn’t know about that one either, other than the name. Ven’s training was moving along really well, and his control over the Unversed and Reversed (He called the negative ones Unversed, and the positive ones Reversed.) was getting much better. The Unversed were much more difficult to control, but Ven was optimistic about it. He even started to name some of them. Scrappers, Floods, and Red Hot Chili were just a few names. Some names were different between the different versions of them too. Patty and Adell were doing great as well. After being told that naming their weapons was helpful to their training, Patty called her pistols “Twin Roses”, and Adell called his gauntlets “Raging Flame”. Everything seemed perfect. _Too perfect._ Ventus felt like something was horribly wrong, and that tragedy would soon strike. And what better way than through the only reoccurring issue at school; Mckenzie.

  
Mckenzie was starting to annoy Ventus. A lot. She began to terrorize him every chance she got. She unscrewed the caps on the salt that he was using, put gum on his lunch tray to make it stick to things, superglued his locker shut, drew horrible pictures on his desk and made it look like he was doing it, and lots more. The final straw was when she somehow managed to put a thumbtack on every chair in the classroom, including Patty’s, Adell’s, the _teachers_ , and even her _own_ , and everyone sat on them, but her of course. And since Ventus was the only one who didn’t have a thumbtack on his chair, it was pretty easy for Mckenzie to pawn off the blame to Ventus. After being sentenced to serve detention every day for two weeks, (the teacher was the parent of one of the school’s jocks on the football team, specifically the one who Ventus caught between the legs with his foot, so he had a disliking toward Ventus, and refused to hear his side of the story.) Ven decided that he had had enough. So he told Patty and Adell what he was planning. Little did he know that his plan would either end very badly or maybe… _well_? It depends on the perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mckenzie's about to learn how much she f***ed up


	14. PAYBACK TIIIIIIIIIME!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Mckenzie has no idea what's heading her way

After the two weeks of detention, Ven began to set up his plan with Adell and Patty. Every day after training, they would stock up on supplies for their pranks. There were to be three waves of pranks on Mckenzie, one wave each day, and each member of the trio would take part in each wave. The group’s supplies included, but were not limited to, superglue, saran wrap, paper towel rolls, toilet paper, paper balls, straws, shaving cream, and more. The first day of the attacks, part one of wave one was on Adell. He started by putting superglue on Mckenzie’s chair, and it took her about 15 minutes to pry the cair off her arse, ripping a pretty large hole in her pants, but at least her underwear was spared.

“Maybe that’ll _hold you back_ messing with my friend,” Adell muttered after the deed was done.

Part two of wave one was on Patty. During gym class, Patty snuck into the girl's locker room while no one was in there and set up an explosive spitball cannon using some toilet paper rolls, a few well-placed rubber bands, and 3 paper clips. Turns out Ventus was pretty good with making blueprints. He’d been working on this specific creation since he was 7 years old. She used her powers to create a thorn vine, (Her and Adell had also learned to control not only their weapons better, but they can also use their element without their weapons. But it’s stronger when using their weapons) and positioned it so that when the locker opened, the cannon would go off.

“This’ll teach you to mess with Ventus,” she said to herself.

So once the gym class was over, and the girls went to their locker room, Mckenzie got a really nasty surprise. That cannon left her scrubbing her face, and hair, for 20 minutes. Part three of wave one was, of course, up to Ventus. So during lunch, When Mckenzie went to get napkins, Ventus used his control over the wind to tie her shoes together and rolled a stink bomb to where her mouth open from screaming, would land. Ventus _did_ at least use a bit of wind to prevent her from breaking her face and untied her shoes back to the way they were before. The stink bomb went off in her mouth though, and she was gonna have to put up with that taste for the rest of the day and the rest of the night.

“Bet it _stinks_ to be you right now.” Ventus snickered out of everyone’s range of hearing.

With that, Wave one was done. The trio celebrated their victory and went over their plans for wave two before putting it into motion. The first wave was a bit brutal, but the second wave was much lighter on her. _Not_.  Ven started by placing a toilet paper launcher that had shot toilet paper with super glue on it in her locker. (while spying on her, Patty discovered Mckenzie’s normal locker combination, just as Mckenzie had done to learn Ven’s locker combination.) Once it fired at her, Ventus stood from a distance and used wind to wrap her up like a mummy. Adell struck next placing a saran wrap trap on her chair so that when she sat on it it would entangle her in the saran wrap. Amazingly, none of the teachers seemed to pay attention to the torture that Mckenzie was going through, and the other students, even less. Everyone could agree that she deserved it, (She really like to flaunt her popularity as a cheerleader, and she’s made a lot of enemies from it.) and it was left at that. Patty finished off wave two with a fake mouse caught in a fake mouse trap and made it look like a mouse died from decapitation via a mousetrap. Needless to say, it scared so Mckenzie so much she turned gray.

Now, it was time for the final crushing blow, and the trio was prepared to go all in. Sadly though, wave 3 did _not_ go as planned

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the horrible one-liners, but I had to okay?


	15. Payback negative.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little lopsided. A surprising revelation from Mckenzie leads to a surprising fit of blind rage from Ven. Which in turn leads to a revelation from someone else?

On her walk to school, Mckenzie was nervous. All the pranks that had been pulled on her made her anxious. She wondered who could’ve been behind them. She’d made a lot of enemies, and she was not prepared for what had happened over the last two days. But suddenly, something in her mind clicked, at everything made sense. Ventus! It had to be! Who else would have such a will for revenge against her? Most of her pranks toward Ventus were pretty similar to the pranks pointed at her. Mckenzie was steaming.

“When I get my hands on that twerp, I’ll…!” Her rant to herself was cut off by the sound of a stick snapping. _Was someone following her?_ That thought chilled her to the bone. It also didn’t help that it was really foggy outside. Fall was a pain sometimes. _“Is there another prank headed my way? This early in the morning? Maybe I … should have left Ventus alone... ”_ She then felt something on her ankle.

_“I tripped something…!”_ At that moment a ball of slime flew out of the fog, and at her face. She barely managed to dodge it. The slime hit a nearby fence in view. Just from looking at it, Mckenzie could tell that if it got in her hair then her life was _over_. She started to run and then tripped another slimeball launch, and another, and another. She must’ve run a full mile dodging slimeballs. But she was running up to a crosswalk, and the fog plus the slimeball launchings were distracting her. This was a pretty big problem due to the fact that no one here knows how to drive, as in, the average person drove about twice the speed limit, and lots of people text while they drive around here. It was a really alarming actually. Mckenzie kept running, getting closer and closer to the crosswalk, and eventually, Mckenzie tripped and found herself sprawled out on the road, and a car was coming at her fast. She saw her life flash before eyes before she found herself in someone’s arms in the grass. Once she came to, she realized that she was in, _Ventus’ arms?_

 

…………

 

Ventus wasn’t expecting any kind of affection (god forbid she show him any) from Mckenzie, but he was at least expecting a “Thank you for saving my life”, followed by a “Sorry for being a jerk for no real reason.” But what did he get? A slap in the face (A group unversed nearly streamed out of him and ripped her to shreds when she slapped him. Good thing he was facing her, cause one of them actually made it halfway out of his back), a bunch of angry complaints and a few hurtful comments/statements.

“Sheesh. Do you ever stop complaining? What? Would you rather have become roadkill?” He hissed. He still felt unversed brewing.

“This is your fault you know! If you hadn't been so intent on pranking me, this never would have happened!” Mckenzie hissed back.

“So you finally put two and two together. Well, more like you put _one_ and two together. Still have yet to see past you’re _I’ve done nothing wrong_ act yet? Why do you think I was so intent on pranking you in the first place?”

“That’s a great question, because I don’t know why you’re trying to prank me, and I _haven’t_ done anything wrong to you!”   
“Seriously? That’s your response? Fine. I’ve got video evidence right here.”

Ventus pulled out a small portable TV  with a disk titled “Mckenzie's biggest hits” from his bag. He inserted the disc into the portable TV screen and it began to play. The video  showed Mckenzie putting super glue on his locker, putting gum under his lunch tray to make it stick to the table, unscrewing the salt caps of the salt shaker Ventus was using, placing thumbtacks on all the chairs in a classroom and blaming it on Ventus, and flicking mechanical pencil lead at Ventus' head. He then paused it.

“You get the picture now?” Ventus asked. “Because I've got hours more this.”

That shut her up. There was a long tense silence in which they started each other in the eyes. Strangely, Ventus’ eyes were starting to unnerve Mckenzie.

Had his eyes always been so… _dreamy_ to her? She felt like she could stare into them forever. But finally, the silence was broken with a

“You’re completely hopeless.” from Ventus. He pulled out a walkie talkie from his backpack and stood out of earshot from Mckenzie. She didn’t mind the two minutes he spent talking to Adell and Patty while she sat there in the grass since she spent all of staring at Ven’s butt. Was it always that adorable to her?

“Oh no,” Mckenzie said to herself realizing what was happening. “Was this the reason I felt so drawn to terrorizing him? I’ve… I’ve _liked_ him this whole t-time? A l-loser like _him_?”

After a while, she heard Ventus yelling into the walkie-talkie loud enough for her to hear part of the conversation.

“Can you hear me now? What? No! I said _cancel_ the rest of wave 3! Adell did _what_? That wasn’t even apart of..! Ugh. Fine! Fine! I have to. She nearly died. The dumb girl tripped onto the crosswalk in front of a car, and well, I had to do _something_. Yeah, she slapped me in the _face_ and began to complain… No, at least I don’t _think_ she’s hurt.” He looked back at Mckenzie who was looking mesmerized from staring at something. He didn’t care much. Probably since he didn’t care to know what she was looking at.

“Since when do either of you care anyway? I don’t even know why _I_ care… Oh, she _better_ be able to walk. I do _not_ want to carry her… Alright. I’m heading back to the school.” He shut off the walkie talkie a turned fully to Mckenzie. “ _Please_ tell me that you can walk.”

Mckenzie’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of Ventus carrying her, so she pretended her ankle was hurt, (which it kind of was, but not enough for her to be unable to walk) and lifted her hand. ds

“Can I get a ride?” Mckenzie asked in a teasing voice. Ventus visibly cringed. Really hard. An Unversed nearly erupted out of him but he kept it in check.

“Don’t say it like that. It’s… ugh…” He responded, shuddering. He pulled her up -and carried her piggy-back style. He felt an irritated Unversed creeping around in him.

“You’re really strong.” She said. Ventus cringed harder than before.

“Stop talking.” He hissed.

“Why?” She asked, running her fingers through his hair.

“ _Let me out. Let me crush her skull._ ” Ventus heard the voice of an Unversed that really wanted out in his head. He pushed the Unversed deep down in himself.

Ventus shook Mckenzie’s hand off his head.

“Another word and I will drop you and leave you here. And don’t think that I like you or anything just cause I saved your butt. Nothing has changed, and I still hate you.” The venom in his voice was frightening. Mckenzie got quiet. Ventus was glad she did, cause he would probably suffocate her by creating a wind vortex around her that would disable her oxygen supply if she didn’t. Or find the nearest cliff to chuck her off of. Either one worked for him. 5 minutes through the rest of the 20-minute walk, Mckenzie fell asleep on Ven’s back, and he hated it. At least she didn’t snore like a pig, which was what he was expecting from her. She was actually kinda peaceful. He still hated it though. Once they got to the school, Ven spied his two friends standing in the crowd of other kids. When they saw him carrying Mckenzie, Adell had a confused look on his face, and Patty had a nasty scowl that should never disgrace hers. They exchanged worried glances with each other until they saw the scowl on Ventus’ face which put them at ease. Ven carried Mckenzie up the stairs to the school’s main doors and shook her to wake her up. Her only response was to hold on to him tighter, and she quietly whispered, “I don’t want to.”

“ _Let me out._ ” A group of unversed driven by his frustration and irritation really wanted out. Ventus still refused to let them though. Ventus’ face also burned red, (it was hard to tell if it was anger or embarrassment) and he did what any nice person would do. He dropped her on the ground. The cold, hard, ground. Also made of concrete. He wasn’t feeling generous enough to cushion her fall either.

“Get up. Were here.” Ventus sneered.           

“That’s no way to treat a lady,” Mckenzie grumbled.

“Do I look like I care? I did my job and escorted you to the school. Can I go now?” Ventus said back, turning to head over to his friends.

“What? That’s it? You make friends with an enemy, one as cute and popular as I am, abandon your chance to make a move and just leave?” Mckenzie asked.  Was it always this hard for Ven to keep his Unversed in check?

“I said this already, but I must not have made myself clear enough. I don’t like you. I hate you with every fiber of both my body and my existence. I saved you from being hit by a car _one time_ and all of a sudden you think I like you? Yeah right. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that _you’re_ the one crushing on _me_. Too bad, cause I don’t feel the same way about you. So get out of my face.” There wasn’t venom in Ventus’ voice. This time It was _hatred_ , and all that did was make Mckenzie like him even more.

“Alright, fine.” She said. “See you around then. By the way, I could walk the whole time. I just wanted my soon to be boyfriend to carry me here.” she winked at him. That was the final nail on the burning coffin Mckenzie was sealing herself in. Ven internally snapped, and the wind started to swirl around the area, which was weird to Mckenzie considering the fact that the air around them was practically non-existent a moment earlier. From Ven’s perspective, he’d been nice to Mckenzie and was done doing so. He was about to end her right then and there. She had no right to disregard his statement about how much he hated her by flirting with him. Honestly, it was a mystery as to why Unversed didn’t pour out of him like a waterfall. Patty and Adell felt the wind, looked around, then realized where the wind was coming from.

“Wait, Ven! Nonononono!” they both yelled at the same time. Ventus took a step toward Mckenzie. His foot left a crater in the ground, and with each step closer to Mckenzie, the wind intensified. Patty and Adell both ran as fast as they could to him and both of them held him back. Well, they _tried_ to. They slowed him down by quite a good degree, but couldn’t hold him back completely.

“Mckenzie! Run!” Adell yelled in a strained voice.

“I don’t take orders from you.” Mckenzie hissed.

“You idiot! Run you, stupid girl!” Patty yelled, also straining herself.

“Why? He may be strong, but I can handle myself.” Mckenzie shot back.

“ IM GONNA TEAR OUT HER TONGUE!!!! LET GO OF ME!!!!!!!!” Ventus roared. That caught the rest of the students’ attention. Everyone got quiet.

“Okay. Mckenzie? I’m sorry for being rude to you,” Patty managed to say despite the intense strain on her body from keeping Ven back, “but Ventus just lost his temper. I may have only known him for a month, but this isn’t something that happens. At all. That means you should be running. Find a safe place to hide, and for the love of god, _stay_ there. We’ll keep him back, but we won’t be able to hold… him… much… longer.” Patty and Adell were losing their grip on Ventus, and Mckenzie was still standing there just watching.

“AM I SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE MCKENZIE???!!! RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Patty screamed.

With that, Mckenzie took off sprinting. She found a place she figured would be safe. She was also by a backdoor that she could enter the school from when it was time to go in. Speaking of which, what time was it? She looked at her phone.

“It’s only been _five minutes_!?” she said to herself. “He told me to leave him alone, but I just can’t help it. He’s _perfect_. I don’t understand why I didn’t feel this way sooner. Guess I should have been nicer, but I’ve always been this way, towards boys I like. It’s worked before. So why? Why is he so different?” She ranted to herself. “Ugh. Look at yourself Mckenzie, you’re _pathetic_! You’re sad over some loser not liking you? You are one of the most popular girls in this school-” _But if I am, then why can’t I have him?_ She couldn’t say that out loud. Not even to herself.

Meanwhile, Patty and Adell were still holding Ventus back. The rest of the students still stared at them. There still were no teachers poking around to see what was going on, (which was to be expected. They’re never around when you need them. Not that the trio needed them). But Ventus had started to wear himself out though, cause he stopped struggling. Eventually, he slid down to the ground, but the wind didn’t cease a bit.

“Okay. I’m calm. You can let go of me now.”

“Yeah right. Not until you calm the w-” Adell had to catch himself. There were lots of nosy onlookers that couldn’t be trusted with too much information.

“Rgh. Fine. You’ve got me. I’ll calm down more”. Ventus calmed the wind slowly, as to not make anyone too suspicious. After that, everyone just shrugged the situation off. Well, everyone save for a few girls who were gossiping about what just went down. Patty and Adell both let go of Ventus and collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

“My arms are _burning,_ ” Adell said.

“You’re lucky, I can’t feel mine. Or any of my torso for that matter.” In unison, they both looked at Ven and said “You’re too strong for your own good Ven. It’s scary.” The two of them looked at each other, and in continued unison.

“Jinx! Double jinx! Triple jinx! Knock on wo- wait. We don’t have any wood. Okay, stop. I said stop, you’re freaking me out. I’m warning you. Stop! Stop it! Okay!  On three we both blurt out something random about Ventus. 1… 2… 3!”

Adell and Patty said two different things.

Adell blurted: “Ventus is my best friend!”

Patty blurted: “I li-” She caught herself in the nick of time since that’s not information to blurt out. Thank _god_ Ventus wasn’t paying attention, but Adell was.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


	16. Small snippets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I kinda wanted to throw this out there. Special guests from soul eater!

After that, the day went on fairly normal. While Ventus was at his locker after the bell rang for lunch, a group of girls Ven recognized as the school cheerleaders(excluding Mckenzie)  walked by and stopped in front of him.

“Heya Ventus!” They all said in rather flirty voices.

“Hi,” Ven said flatly, clearly uninterested in talking to them. After the situation that happened earlier, he wasn’t in the mood to talk to any girls at school, other than Patty of course. The group of girls was completely oblivious to his tone, of course.

“So, we saw how you had Mckenzie running earlier and, I’m cool with her, but honestly it's about time someone stood up to her. Anyway, we're having a party on Friday. Wanna come?” One of the girls asked batting her eyes at him. Ventus was about to ask who all was gonna be there, but he realized three things.

 

  * He probably wouldn't know anyone the girls said.


  * After how many times Ventus almost spewed out Unversed today, he’d need all the training he could get so he likely wouldn’t have time.


  * He didn’t really care that much.



 

“Not really. I’m likely going to be busy, but I might come if I don’t have anything better to do.” Ventus said.

“See ya there then!” One of the girls shouted. Seeming satisfied, the group went on their way.

“Ugh. Hmmm… I _guess_ I party _could_ be fun… I dunno. I’ll just ask Terra and Aqua when I get home.” He then headed to lunch.

 

While Ventus was confronted by the cheerleaders, Patty was at her locker talking to her friends.

“HEY!  PATTY!” Patty jumped. Of course, she didn’t scream or anything, mainly because she’d be able to recognize that voice even if she had _amnesia_. She turned around to see her friend Nagareboshi (Who goes by Black Star, since his name means shooting star but no one can pronounce it ) standing behind her.

“Dude, you’re standing right behind me! Why are you always yelling?” She said to him.

“YOU KNOW I HAVE TO MAKE MY PRESENCE KNOWN BY EVERYONE!!! FOR I AM THE MIGHTY BLACK ST- OOOF!!!!” He got cut off when another one of Patty’s friends, Maka Albarn, hit Black Star in the head with a book thicker than a dictionary.

“Can you shut up? You’re drawing unnecessary attention to yourself.”

“Jeez Maka, you didn’t have to bust my skull open with a goddamn bible.” Black Star grumbled rubbing his head.

“It’s not a bible! But if it was, it would prove that god does smite those he deems fit.” Maka responded.

“Only you would make a joke like that Maka.” A trademarked cynical voice Patty recognized said. She turned to see Wally Evans (or Soul, a nickname given to him by Maka, though it’s still a mystery as to why, and he won’t tell), Maka’s _supposed_ platonic friend.

“Shut up Soul,” Maka said to him without even turning in his direction.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth,” Soul said back. “Hm? Seems we’re a head short. Hey Nagareboshi, where’s your sister Tsubaki?” Soul said looking around.

“She’s doing some extra studying in math. She has a goddamn 99% percent in that class. I don’t even know why she bothers. Hell, she has a 100% in everything else though. I guess she won’t be satisfied until it’s all 100. But let’s turn the attention to Patty.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that one friend of yours. Ventus right? He’s gotten really popular since he took down half the football team.” Maka said to Patty.

“You’ve been hanging out with him after school too right?” Soul asked.”Are you two dating or something?”

“W-what!? N-no!” Patty stammered.

Black Star grew a huge grin on his face. He turned around and started to shout

“HEY EVERYONE!!! PATTY HERE HAS A CRUSH ON V- AUGGHH!!!!!” Black Star was met with a kick directly between his legs, a skull bash with Maka’s book, and a kick in the back from Soul, causing him to collapse to the floor, twitching in pain.

“S-Soul… Why Soul?” He said through breathless and pained groans.

“Hey gu- OH MY GOD BLACK STAR, ARE YOU OKAY!!??” Tsubaki screamed running to her brother. “What happened to him?!”

“You need to get a bolt for your brother’s lips. He likes to yell out secrets.” Patty said.

“HA! She admits it! You _do_ like the new kid!” Soul exclaimed to her, thankfully in a tone that the people walking around can’t hear.

“The new kid? Oh! You mean Ventus right? He’s really popular all if a sudden. Didn’t he also get a really fatal case of the flu?” Tsubaki asked, fanning Black Star.

“Yep, and it looks like Patty likes him too. They’ve been hanging out a lot. After school _especially_. Soo…” Maka said looking at Patty. “What do you do outside of school with him _hmm_?”

“N-nothing! We just hang out okay?! Besides, we have another friend that hangs out with us too.”

“Oh, that’s right isn’t his name Adell?” Tsubaki asked. “He seems cool. He’s kinda cute too.”

“There, now you have someone else to bother about boys! Go bother Tsubaki!” Patty said getting ready turn around.

“Nah. You’re more fun to bother.” Maka’s voice rang. “Why don’t you just tell Ventus how you feel?”

“Why don’t you just tell Soul you like him?” Patty snapped back.

“Wha-!? I don’t-!?” Maka sputtered.

“Uh huh. Sure you don’t,” Patty said walking toward the lunch room.

 

Meanwhile, Adell was in the weight room, by himself and of course, pumping weight. The only thing was he was lifting _250lb_ with his _pinky finger_.

“3,981, 3,982, 3,983, 3,984, 3,985, 3,986, 3,987, 3,988, 3,989, 3,990, 3,991, 3,992, 3,993, 3,994, 3,995, 3,996, 3,997, 3,998, 3,999, 4,000. That’s good for now,” He said putting down the weight and stopping a timer. “10 minutes? Hm. Not bad, but not too good either. I can do better. Just wait, I’ll get there eventually.” He smiled warmly at the thought of whatever goal he had in mind. With that, he left the room and headed to lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up Black Star's "real name" It is not in any way canon.
> 
> Adell is also a god, because reasons.
> 
> I also had WAY too much fun writing the soul eater characters bothering Patty about Ventus.
> 
> Girls too, because Ven can't catch a fucking break from them.


	17. Who are you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ventus receives a visit from... HIM
> 
> (You know who Another+Fan)

When Ventus got home he tossed his stuff onto the couch.

“I’m home!” He yelled.

“Terra’s out! I’m about to take a shower!” Aqua yelled from upstairs.

“Okay!” Ventus yelled back. He sat on the couch and relayed the day's events. “ _The Unversed voices._ ” He thought. They weren't like the one he heard when he first learned how to create them. These voices, well more like this _voice_ was different.

“ _That’s cause I’m not an Unversed idiot._ ” The same voice said. Ventus nearly fell off the couch. “ _I’m your darkness. It’s a good thing you’re strong enough to hear me. Otherwise, we’re gonna have some problems.”_

“Wha-!? Who are you?” Ventus said aloud.

“ _I just told you, idiot. If you need a name, then you’re hearing Vanitas._ ”

“Vanitas? Wait! Terra and Aqua, they told me about you!” Ventus said, getting into a fighting stance. “Where are you!? You looking for a fight or something!?”

“ _Relax. You yourself don’t remember me do you?_ ” Vanitas asked.

 “N-no,” Ventus said back.

“ _What did Aqua and Terra tell you?_ ”

“She and Terra told me you hurt me. That you hurt our family! That you hurt everyone you saw, and that you took _pleasure_ in it!” Ventus yelled. Vanitas laughed an evil laugh, but it was laced with… Sadness? Regret? _Pain_?

“ _What about your father. What did they tell you about him? And your mom. What about her?”_

There was a pause.

_“Nothing huh? Figures. They didn’t know. Why would they tell you what really happened?”_

“Wha-? What is this!? Some kind of trick!? It won’t work!” Another cackle tore from Vanitas in Ven’s head. The voice was laced with even more pain. More sadness. Ven felt a tear go down his cheek for the sadness he felt _for_ Vanitas.

“ _I’ll tell you what really happened. Whether or not you choose to believe me, is up to you, but just listen. Your father was ecstatic when he learned that Terra and Aqua could use their weapons. But you. Or better said us. He hated us. He hated that we existed. He never wanted us. He didn’t want to have 3. But your mother Elizabeth. You know her too don’t you?_ ” Vanitas asked. “Y-yes. A little.” Ventus responded.

_“Good. Elizabeth had us anyway. He didn't want us. she did. He pretended to care, but he despised us. One day, he saw that we had a large enough amount of darkness for it to be extracted from us. When no one was awake, he woke us up and said he had a surprise for us. Don’t you remember? He took us out to the training field, and he stabbed us. Right in the heart. Right in the soul. And he removed me from you. You became broken. Your soul was fractured, so it would make sense that you were put in a coma. But me? He finally had something to unleash his hate for you on. He bound me together so that I couldn’t escape, of course. He summoned his weapon, the Master’s defender, such an ironic name for a shape-shifting weapon taking form as a hammer used to beat me until I could feel nothing. Until I was in too much pain to scream.”_ Vanitas’ voice became shaky as if he was holding back tears. “ _But still, my screams woke everyone up, and everyone rushed outside. They questioned what was going on, and your beloved father told them that I pulled myself from you, and put you in your catatonic state. He claimed that he questioned me until he had no choice but to resort to drastic measures. Of course, they believed him. I had been forcefully ripped from you, and I didn’t know how to speak. They took you in and left your father to me. He locked me somewhere that I could not escape from. Every night, he would beat me with his weapon. Sometimes he would visit me for a beating whenever he was angry. Every time I tried to escape, he would beat me more. Soon, he became obsessed with causing me pain. He couldn’t live without my pained shrieks. Without seeing me on the brink of death. He was the worst, the day he came back after he left me alone for 3 months. That day, he was different. I could tell he was no longer a father. No longer my original imprisoner. He was pure darkness like me, but we were different. His darkness was created from hate. I was made from one emotion. The only thing I ever knew. Pain. I died that day. At least I thought I died. Just like he thought I died when he watched me fade away. But I found myself, surrounded by dark creatures. Fear. The first thing I ever felt that wasn’t pain. Another creature came from me the moment I felt it. Tell me. What does that sound like to you?”_ Vanitas asked.

“Unversed!” Ventus yelled in response.

“ _Correct. I was the original source of them._ ” Vanitas responded. An image of a face similar to his own, but with golden eyes along with black and spiky hair, but not the same shape as his own, popped into Ventus’ head. The face wore a sadistic smile, but he was also crying.

“ _They scared me, so I destroyed them. And I felt the pain I was inflicting onto them, causing more to appear. And I destroyed the new ones. More pain. I threw myself into a cycle of it. More Unversed. More pain. So I did the only thing I believed I could. I ran away. It didn’t matter where I went. What world I escaped to.”_

“What do you mean what _world_ you escaped to?” Ventus asked.

_“You really are in the dark aren’t you? There are, well, there were other worlds at the time. And no matter which one I went to, there would always be more. More Unversed. More pain I felt. I finally began to approach people. All I wanted was help. All I found was anguish. People ran in fear. I would become angry. More Unversed. I would chase those who ran away from me. I just wanted help. I just wanted to end my pain. But still, I could not speak. And soon, after looking for substance, I found a lake that I planned to drink from. I saw what I looked like for the first time. My face was just a dark cloud, my eyes were just glowing red spheres. I was an abomination. So I created a helmet from darkness and covered my face so no one could see it. I traveled. World after world. Until I found an abandoned one. Badlands. The moment I stepped foot in it, I felt you. You’d woken up. And I could see what you saw. Feel what you felt. I saw all the love your family gave you. I saw how happy you were. And a seed of hate was born. Why did you get to be loved? You’d done wrong in your life. I’d done nothing wrong. I’d done nothing wrong that warranted the treatment I’d been given. So, I’d begun to spread Unversed around worlds to attract you and your family. My plan worked, for the most part. I really did it to get to you. But you were forced to stay. And with you, your father. Do you remember his name? It was Eraqus.”_ Ventus jolted up at the mention of the name, and memories flew into his head.

“Wha- I… You… You’re telling the _truth_?” He clutched his forehead. “I… no… I-I don’t… What…? N-no… lies! These memories are _fake_! You… you’re lying! P-please! Please tell me that you’re lying! Please! Tell me that it’s not true!” Ventus’ eyes began to pour out water.

“ _I found my way to where you were, and I convinced you that your family was in danger. That they needed you or else they’d die. But the true reason I convinced you to leave was not because of my original plan, but because I feared for you.”_

“Stop it,” Ventus said to Vanitas.

“ _I may have hated you out of envy that you were loved and all I knew was pain, but I feared for what Eraqus would do to you. What he did to me, I couldn’t wish on you. I want to think I could, but I don’t think I could wish such torture on Eraqus himself._ ”

“I said stop!” Ventus yelled, his voice still shaking.

“ _My original plan was to make you strong enough to absorb me so that I could have an end to my pain. I just wanted to return to where I came from. But, whilst exploring, I came across an abandoned lab. Everything in it had been destroyed. But there was one thing that was there and still intact. A book known as “The War between Souls.” In fact, I learned how to speak from reading it. I forced myself to learn how to pronounce words and taught myself. From it, I learned that there was once a war over a legendary weapon known as the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇.”_

“STOP IT!!!” Ventus roared. “STOP!!!” Ventus continued clutching his head.

“ _Ventus! Just listen! It was capable of so much, and I… ”_ Vanitas yelled in response, but Ventus kept yelling.

“I DON’T WANT YOUR FAKE MEMORIES! STOP LYING! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!”

“ _AuUghH!!! You… You idiot …! You’re hurting… me… You’re hurting me too!”_

“STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! ST- AUghHu!!!”

There was a flash, and afterward, Ventus opened his eyes and stood up. His hair, normally blonde and spiky now had black edges. He wore a weird suit that was the same colors as his favorite outfit, which he was wearing earlier. It pulsed red and black in certain spots. Another peculiar part about his look was that one of his eyes was gold, the other his normal blue. When he spoke, he spoke in two different voices, both in perfect sync. One was Ven’s own. The other was Vanitas’ voice.

“Wha- My voice… no… _Our_ voice.” They said. And it was then that Terra burst through the door, and Aqua rushed downstairs.

“Ven! I heard yelling! Are you…” Aqua started but did not finish.

“Ven! I saw a flash from outside! What’s…” Terra began but trailed off.

Ventus-Vanitas looked at both of them.

“Hi… Aqua… Terra…” They said, Ventus’ voice sticking out more.

“It’s a bit of a long story.” They said, Vanitas’ voice pushing out more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So part of this AU is that Xehanort was never a bad guy. Honestly, I might as well say that he never existed in this universe. He won't even be mentioned in this story. Also, there are technically no keyblades in this story but I couldn't come up with a better name for the X-blade. I say technically because the X-blade can basically be considered to look the exact same as the original.


	18. Hurt or Love?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aqua reveals a new truth, and Vanitas doesn't take it so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember the tag that says if Vanitas doesn't make you cry I'm afraid you have no soul? Well this is mostly what I was talking about

“You… You’re… No. No! No!! Eraqus… he _loved_ Ventus. He cared! He… he did… Right?” Terra said.

“Terra may not, but you of all people would know the answer to that question, _Aqua,_ ” They, well more so Vanitas, said. From the way, he said her name, it sounded like she took part in abusing Vanitas herself. “After all, you took enjoyment in tormenting us before we were split, didn’t you? And you did it knowing that as long as Mom didn’t know, you could never get in trouble because Eraqus _didn’t_ care what you did as long as we were still alive, and were not broken.” Aqua looked stunned.

“I-I was just a little girl! I was _nine years old_! I didn’t know any better! I… I…”

“I see it. I remember Aqua.” Ventus specifically, said. Aqua sighed sadly and attempted to hug Ventus before Vanitas pushed her back and got into a fighting stance ready to summon his weapon at any moment.

“What are you _doing_?!” He yelled at her. “Touch me again, and it will be the last thing you do!” Aqua then remembered that Vanitas knew nothing of affection.

“She was trying to give m- _us_ a hug! For comfort! Don’t you understand anything?!” Ventus yelled.

“All I know is that everyone who touches or sees is going to hurt me, or they’re going to fear me,” Vanitas snapped back to his other, “and I’d rather be feared than I would be hurt.” There was fear, _genuine_ fear in Vanitas’ eye. After everything that she had been told, and experienced herself, she never thought she’d see such from him.

“Sometimes you need a hug to soothe pain Vanitas,” Aqua said with pity in her voice, slowly approaching them. “Sometimes you need love to soothe the pain. Sometimes you need affection. Someone who cares about you. Someone who deems you important to them, and someone you deem important to you.” Aqua said, approaching them at a bit of a faster pace. Terra had yet to say anything else, but he was ready to attack if Vanitas tried anything.

“Shut up. Stop it. I don’t want- no I don’t _need_ your pity.”

“I know you don’t want or need pity. But you need a hug.”

“ _No._ I don’t want it. Another step closer, and I will hurt _you_.” Aqua kept approaching. Vanitas wanted to attack her, but Ventus wouldn’t let him.

“Aqua, he’s just been forced into this situation. Just give him some ti-” Terra started but Aqua cut him off.

“He needs to know that we won’t hurt him. That we are friends.”

“ _Friends?!_ He tried to kill us all!” Terra yelled at Aqua.

“Maybe he was telling the truth, Terra! And he’s apart of Ventus now, and he may be forever. Everyone deserves a second chance,” Aqua said, as she began to give off a soft glow of light. “I believe that Vanitas deserves one most. I saw it.”

“You saw what?” Terra asked.

“I saw dad rip Vanitas out of Ventus. I saw dad beat Vanitas. The entire time, Vanitas never did anything wrong.” Aqua said. Ventus-Vanitas immediately tensed.

“You- you _what_!?” they asked. Ventus and Vanitas’ voices were in perfect proportion. “Why didn’t you say anything! Why did you let him abuse me!?”Dark wisps began to flow off them. “Why did you let me go through that pain!? What right did you ever have to call me a _freak_!? A _monster_!?’” Tears welled in Vanitas’ eye. “WHY!? WHY!? WHY!?” They summoned a weapon, that was similar to Ventus’ weapon, except instead of a chain and sickle, he had two black and red swords with a chain between them, and they looked as if they were two halves of one whole. Ventus-Vanitas fused the two weapons together, and they became a weirdly shaped sword with gear-like teeth as the blade of the weapon, which was double sided. The handle of the weapon had a peculiar blue eye on it that pulsed with darkness.

“Wha-?” Aqua started. “That’s-” Before she could finish Ventus-Vanitas rushed toward Aqua before Terra jumped in and deflected his attack.

“STOP!!!” He yelled at them. “Ven! Grab ahold of him!” There was no response from Ventus. The eye that had belonged to him began to fade to gold, but there was still a ring of blue deep in it.

“I’ve decided that I want to _drive_ for a bit. Ventus is gone. At least for now. He never truly did anything wrong to me, so I won't to him. But _you_ , Aqua? Earlier you said that sometimes the only way to soothe pain is love. The people you care about. But what if you have no one to care about you? What if you _can’t_ feel love? What if you’re an empty husk that can only feel pain and hatred!? Cause honestly Aqua, think it’s time you learned… ” The weapon Vanitas held transformed into what Terra and Aqua immediately recognized as the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇. “What real hurt feels like!” He immediately teleported behind Terra and kicked him in the back, sending him flying into a wall knocking him out instantly. Vanitas followed up by sucking them all into a space inhabited by nothingness. Aqua looked around and saw Vanitas standing behind her weapon drawn and aimed at her.

“I see. I’ve brought this upon myself. I let you go through that pain and torment. But I promise you, I’ll pull you out of it! You deserve a sec- no you deserve _a_ chance.” Aqua said drawing her own weapon.

Vanitas rushed at her and went for a stab to her throat. She used a shield of water to defend herself. He teleported behind her, only to be hit by a jab to the stomach and a pulse of light that seared his body. He shook the blow off and rushed her again this time disappearing and reappearing randomly until five clones of him appeared above her and while following her movement just hanging in the air, slashed down at her leaving huge icicles in the ground that threatened to impale her one by one. The last one froze the ground completely, then Vanitas jumped into the air and the ice turned to pure darkness.

“Suffer!” Vanitas yelled. At that moment the darkness wrapped around her, heating up until it blistered her skin. She let out a cry of agony before the darkness turned back into ice, impaling her blistered skin, and locking her arms together. She could have used a fire spell from Rainfell to break the ice, but she made no attempt to. Vanitas stood before her wearing the most evil, sadistic, pain-filled smile she’d ever seen.

“Now _you_ can see just how powerless you are!” Vanitas said, as his weapon transformed. It was still the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇, But it was more blunt edged. He immediately struck her with it, sending her still bound body flying. He teleported behind her and his weapon became two fist like weapons, and he punched her in the back, ripping another shriek from her. Instead of that impact sending her flying once more, he grabbed her by the skull and sent a wave of darkness through her. It was the most painful thing she’d ever felt. She still, despite all the pain, did nothing to fight back.

“Show me anguish!” Vanitas exclaimed, laughing sadistically while water poured from his eyes. He slammed her into the ground, and sent a shock of electricity through it, thus electrocuting her. When she cried out in pain, he lifted her from the ground and punched her in the stomach. Aqua felt as if his hand went through her body, and coughed up blood.

“Shut up. You don’t get to scream. You fight back, or you _die_.” He flung her across the dark space and she slammed against some kind of barrier behind herself causing her to cough up more blood.

“Why aren’t you fighting back!?” Vanitas yelled as he struck her into the ground.

No response.

“Why aren’t you fighting BACK!?” He yelled, striking her down again.

Still silence.

“I’m hurting you. I’m making you suffer. I’m making you endure all of this pain. So why!? WHY!? WHY WON’T YOU FIGHT BACK!?!?” He yelled striking her repeatedly into the ground.

“If you don’t end me, then I’ll kill you.”

Silence.

“I’ll kill Terra.”

Silence.

“I’ll kill Ventus.”

Silence.

“I’ll kill everyone you love. Destroy everything you’ve worked for.”

Silence.

“I can’t understand.”

Silence.

“Why!?” He beat her into the ground harder.

Silence.

“Why!?” Vanitas started to sob.

“I just don’t understand!”

Aqua finally looked up, blood clouding her vision, clogging her throat.

“I won’t hurt you. You don’t deserve to be hurt.” She pushed herself up, despite her body wanting to give up, as she began to glow with light once again. The look in her eyes was only made Vanitas cry more. Aqua then did the unthinkable. She threw herself onto Vanitas and embraced him in a hug. The moment Aqua touched him, Vanitas had felt like a thousand tiny needles were stabbing holes in his soul. He felt them ripping him apart from the inside-out. He felt completely numb. Aqua’s light tore him to shreds. But all Vanitas could do was hold on to her and sob.

“You deserve love,” Aqua said to him.

“Thank you Aqua,” Vanitas said through his tears.

It was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.              

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas is a good guy now?!
> 
> If only he decided to be a good guy in KH3. 
> 
> If only.


	19. Sadness, love, friends, and... a party?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aqua is okay! Vanitas is a good guy! Ven got invited to what?

“Aqua…” A voice called.

“Aqua…” A different voice called.

“Aqua…” A third voice called.

She opened her eyes to see three figures standing over her.

“Vanitas!!” she yelled sitting up. “What happened!? Is he okay!? What about Ventus!? And Terra!?

“I’m fine Aqua.” her eyes, having finally adjusted to waking up, layed on Ventus, Terra and a boy wearing a red and black suit with a helmet over his head and a belt with a ragged skirt like thing (Aqua didn’t know what to call it). Aqua recognized him instantly.

“Vanitas!? But you and Ven were one! How did you…?” Vanitas took off his mask revealing his face. He had a half warm smile; he still looked a bit sadistic. Clearly, he still doesn’t know how to smile.

“After you fainted, I brought you and Terra back to your home. I brought Ventus back to control, and we healed Terra. I had to apologize, of course, and Terra agreed to separate me and Ventus again, without putting Ventus in a coma, and without disorienting me too much. From there we tended to your wounds.” Aqua got out of the bed she was lying in and hugged the three of them.

“Thank you.” She said. She immediately felt one of them squirming.

“Just cause I let you hug me that one time doesn’t mean I like them!” Vanitas yelled still squirming. In response, Aqua released Ventus and Terra, but only hugged Vanitas tighter.

“I’m still darkness, and your light still hurts idiot!”Vanitas yelled at her again. He wanted to punch her, but he couldn’t feel it in himself to do so.

“Okay, okay. I’ll let go of you.” Aqua said chuckling, releasing her victim

“Yeah, cause I was about to punch you anyway.” Vanitas lied.

“I’m sorry I let you go through that suffering,” Aqua said to him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. The past is in the past. Besides, _I’m_ the one who should apologize to you. I took all my anger out on you. For that I’m sorry.”

“So, if your original plan didn’t work,” Ventus started, “how’d you end up returning to me?”

“Oh yeah, I never finished my story, before you interrupted me screaming like a three-year-old.” Vanitas sent a look toward Ventus that basically said “Gotcha.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever _Vani_.” Ventus said to Vanitas, sending him a look that pretty much said: “Try me.”

“Touche,” Vanitas said back to him. “I’ll cut this story down a bit. I changed my plans when I learned from _The War between Souls_ that the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇 could be created if pure light melded with pure darkness. I attempted to forge it by fusing with you and drowning the Worlds in infinite darkness. I did it so that everyone would be like me. So that people would no longer run from me. After all, why would darkness run from darkness? But when I fused with you, you fought back, and we clashed from within your soul. At the same time, our fused body fought Terra and Aqua. After they beat us, and you beat me, I faded away from your soul, and the darkness from the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇 struck Terra, and the light from it struck Aqua. It did nothing but make Aqua stronger, but the darkness immobilized Terra, and the blast opened a pit of darkness that Terra fell through. Aqua jumped in after him, and I was expunged from you.” I could still see what happened through you, and as you attempted to go help them, Terra flew from the pit with a light clone of Aqua holding onto him. The _real_ Aqua slipped into the Realm of Darkness.” Aqua winced at the name of mention of the place that served as her hell.

“Two more effects of the 乂-乃ㄥ卂ᗪ乇is destruction was that all of the worlds fused into a giant one with hidden gateways and portals as the fastest way to get from place to place. The other effect being that all forms of pure darkness, including me and Eraqus who had fallen to it while you were away, were sucked there. Me and him still, of course, did not get along very well. He blamed me for imprisoning him there and attempted to kill me. I escaped, but he was in command of all the dark creatures with the exception of my Unversed. He hunted me down time and time again, for two months straight. Soon though, while hiding, I saw a portal open and an armored figure riding some kind of vehicle swooped in and grabbed Aqua who was being attacked by a giant dark creature. I called out, but the figure who I could only assume was Terra, didn’t hear me. I did manage to get to, and through the portal, before it closed. And there I was. Back here. The Realm of Light. I knew that there was nothing left for me here but I continued searching for something worth existing for. After two years or so I gave up on the thought. So, I summoned my weapon and I ended myself. But now once again here I am. But this time, I think I have a reason to live. For my… for my friends.”

Ventus, Aqua, and Terra all looked like they were about to start bawling. They all hugged him at once and did so.

“I’m so sorry!” Ventus said.

“I can’t believe we left you there!” Terra said.

Aqua cried the most.

“Why did I let this happen to you!?” Aqua cried. “This is all my fault! Please forgive me! Please!” They were all glowing with light.

He pushed all of them off of him, rather forcefully.

“YOUR LIGHT HURTS ME!!! STOP TOUCHING ME WITH IT!!!!! And I already fucking told you, the past is in the past!!!”

They all quickly wiped the tears from their faces.

“Wait,” Ventus said, his voice still a little shaky. “So when you… you know…”

“Killed myself? You can say it. I don’t care.” Vanitas said.

“Yeah… That's when I gained the ability to summon Unversed and Reversed right?”

“Unversed yes, but what do you mean Reversed?”

“You don’t know?” A ring of light formed around Ventus, and from it, a group of Reversed appeared. Vanitas recognized them as a Flood, a Scrapper, and a Red hot chili.

The differences were that the Red hot chili was white and had enthusiastic blue eyes. The Scrapper, instead of the normal purple body and red nervous eyes, was also white and had blue eyes that were cool and relaxed. Finally, Vanitas registered the sight of the flood. Normally, they twitch with irritation and so do their eyes, but this one was calm. Happy. At peace? Vanitas tried his hardest not to look too impressed by the Reversed and did so quite well.

“Impressive Ventus. But there are many more Unversed. It seems that these Reversed are positive forms of Unversed, so there should be more. But with me having been released from you, are you still capable of summoning the counterparts?” Vanitas asked with a devilish smile on his face.

“Yeah, I can feel them. Why are you looking at me like that?” Ventus asked. Vanitas immediately kicked Ventus in the face, sending Ventus flying backward, and into a wall. _Hard_. Ven jumped up and stared at Vanitas coldly.

“What the heck is wrong with you!?” Ventus yelled at him.

“You feel that anger? Reach inside yourself, and pull it out. Let it escape. Let it pour out of you.” Ventus closed his eyes, and did what Vanitas asked. Still, only a few came from Ventus.

“I see. You’re better with the Reversed, but you can still summon Unversed.” Vanitas said. “You need to truly feel the emotion to summon Unversed, yet you can summon Reversed on queue.”

“I would assume it’s the opposite for you?” Ventus asked.

“Yes. I guess we can both learn from each other… So then it’s settled.”

“Huh?”

“I teach you how to use the Unversed, you teach me how to use the Reversed,” Vanitas said with a still half-hearted smile and an outstretched hand. “Deal?”

Ventus shook his hand. “Deal.” He said back.

 

There was a knock on the door. Vanitas summoned his original weapon, the gear-shaped double sword he refers to as “Void gear”.

“What’s happening?! I won’t let you hurt me without a fight! Get ready!”

“Vanitas, chill out. It’s just the door. Things are different here. No one is going to hurt you the way Eraqus did.” Ventus said walking to the door. “It’s probably Adell and Patty anyway.”  
“You mean that friend of yours and the girl you like?”

Ventus turned red.

“Wha- how did you-?”

“After the situation with Aqua earlier, I fished around in your memories. I don’t know what exactly love is or feels like, but I know enough to understand that you like her. Just from your memories, it’s also obvious she likes you back.” Vanitas responded.

“Wha-? N-no she doesn’t!”

“Whatever,” Vanitas said back rolling his eyes. “I’ll be the judge of whether or not I trust them. The only one I truly trust here is Aqua.” Aqua seemed to beam with pride at the statement, while Terra and Ven both looked hurt. The two of them took it in stride. Ventus opened the door to see his two friends standing there. The first thing they noticed was Vanitas, in a fighting stance with his weapon drawn. The two of them stepped inside (as to not let anyone see) and summoned their own weapons.

“Who is this guy?” Adell asked Ven, not moving his head away from his target.

“Don’t worry,” Ven said stepping in between them. “He’s a friend.”

He turned to face Vanitas. “Friends, Vanitas. _Friends_.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a two-year-old. I’m more mentally mature than you anyway.” Vanitas said dismissing Void gear. Patty dismissed her Twin roses and Adell dismissed his Raging flames. Ventus sat them all down and told them the story. Patty and Adell (surprisingly) gave him A bone-crushing hug, which Vanitas (unsurprisingly) hated.

Aqua then started thinking about something.

“Hey, what’s today?” She asked.

“Friday,” Terra responded.

“Oh. good to know I wasn’t asleep _too_ long.”

“Oh yeah! Friday!” Ven exclaimed.  So I got invited to this party…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do you think the party is gonna go?
> 
> Also, yes I got the idea for Unversed made from positive emotions from Taliax.


	20. Trama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I doubt Ven will ever go to a party ever again.

Ventus laid flat out on the floor, clearly not in his home.

“Go have _fun_ , he said. It would be a _good experience_ for you she said.” Ventus grumbled. He looked at his watch. It had been, so far, the worst hour and a half of his life.

“Where am I? How’d I get here? Easy. I’m at the party I’d been invited to of course!” Ventus thought to himself sarcastically. “Terra and Aqua are dead to me.”

 

The first sign Ven received that this was going to be a crappy night was when he walked through the door to see that he was the only boy there. The second bad sign was that the _entire_ (including Mckenzie) cheerleading squad was there. The worst sign, however, was that there were a bunch of chocolate wrappers on the floor, and all of the girls were really woozy. They almost looked…drunk? Upon closer inspection, Ven saw that the chocolate was called “Choco Coco” and contained… Ven’s heart dropped when he saw one of the main ingredients. _Alcohol!?_

“Oh shi-” Ventus didn’t even have a chance to finish the sentence before he got pounced on by one of the girls.

“Heya cutie-” she stopped to hiccup. “How about me and you hang out in one of the spare rooms?” another hiccup. “The others don’t need to know.”

“What the-!? N-NO!!!” He yelled in response squirming. A nervous Unversed was trying to get out of him. Scrapper. He pushed it down permanently just in time to hear another voice.

“He-*hic*, Hey! Tiffany! You can’t *hic* have the _toy_ all to yourself! You’ve gotta *hic* _share_ until *hic* it’s _cleanup time_!” The girl said.

“ _C-c-cleanup t-time!?_ ” Ventus yelled squirming sporadically. “ _Is this really happening!? What the hell did they mean by cleanup time!? Did they call me a toy!? Then something about sharing me!? Is this what happens at parties!?_ ”

No. Ventus knew the answer to that question. This was not a normal party. This was a _death_ party that would be the end of him. He could see it now. All over the news.

“The assault and murder of a 14-year-old boy after he was invited to a party, and was the only boy there.” He heard a generic news reporter say in his head.

No. He refused.

“ _No!_ _I’m not going down without a fight! And I refuse to let any male urges to get in the way! I’m gonna survive this glorified slumber party, and I will walk away just as clean as I walked in!_ ” He thought. Easier said than done. Tiffany, the girl laying on top of him, felt surprisingly heavy, considering that cheerleaders are body shamed by each other for being over 120 pounds. Even if they were drunk, and likely wouldn’t remember this in the morning, it wasn’t like he could use Wayward Wind on them… Wait! Wind!

“Gr-great. *hic* Now Lily knows our plan. *hic* Nice going, Ventus. I’ll just have to _punish_ you. Wait, *hic* wait your turn, Lily! I’m playing with the toy!” Tiffany leaned downward toward Ventus eyes closed as if she were about to kiss him. Much to her dismay and to his fortune, he created a stagnant wall made from wind to halt her completely, and slipped from under her, leaving the hoodie he was wearing behind.

“Looks like you blew it, *hic* Tiffany! Now it’s my, *hic* my turn.” Lily said. She jumped at Ventus, and he dodged her. He was greeted by another girl, who he recognized as Kylie, l tackling him, and he fell to the ground.

“Shit!” he yelled before his face was covered by the girl’s bosom.

“How’s it *hic* going down *hic* there Venny?” She asked. He lightly, yet still forcefully enough kicked her off him and made a run for it. The only problem, however, was that he didn’t know where he was running _to_. And his random path was blocked by another one of the cheerleaders, unmistakably Jeanee, the nicest and most innocent one of them all.

“Where are you- *hic* going there hotty? You *hic* look tired. Why don’t you let me *hic* help you out in that room over *hic* there?”

“ _What the actual-?! What was in that chocolate!?_ ” Ven thought to himself. With some quick thinking, he thought of a plan. He ran for the kitchen, grabbed some food, and ran for the room Jeanee, who chased him all through the process, gestured toward. He threw the food into the room and jumped over her, (while doing a backflip) and she flew into the room, and before she could get out, used wind to lock the door, and she was too drunk to remember how to unlock it.

“Play of the game,” Ventus said to himself smiling. He probably should have been paying attention, unless he was glad to be put in a headlock by the legs of Olivia, a cheerleader who also did 3 years of wrestling beforehand. But he wasn’t very happy. He tried and tried to get out, even using wind to do so, but he couldn’t.

“I know I’m your *hic* favorite right? _Right_?” Her legs tightened. “I *hic* hope you know that you are _my_ favorite *hic* toy. And I think I’d like to *hic* pull an all-nighter playing with *hic* you. What do _you_ think?” She asked. Ven responded by struggling all he could, putting all of his might into it, but he was just too tired. He tried punching and kicking as a last resort. No dice. The biggest problem was that he was also losing consciousness from the lack of oxygen.  

“ _Is this… the end? Is this how I… lose? I can’t use Wayward Wind on her…  I can’t even use wind… on… her. She’s just too… strong. I know I promised Aqua… I’d wait until I was 19… but I don’t think… I can keep that promise. I can’t esc… escape… I can’t even… bite… her...  Wait! She’s not… wearing anything on… her legs but panties!? That makes… this even worse!! Think… Ventus! Think!”_ He was suddenly released when Mckenzie herself, pried Olivia from him. The way she was moving, she didn’t seem drunk but then again, Ven wasn’t sure he was even _alive._ Mckenzie scooped him up and carried him into a room and locked the door behind her. Ven regained enough oxygen to fully regain conscience.

“Ow, my head. Am I still… Clean?” He sat up to have his question answered. Yes, he was, but not for long.

“I think you owe me a thank *hic* you.” Mckenzie said, pulling a dresser in front of the door.

“No… No! NO! NONONONONONONONONO!!!!!!!!!!” Ventus yelled. He was trapped. Mckenzie began to remove some of her clothes. She stopped at her undergarments thankfully, but Ventus was still metaphorically, and likely soon to be literally, screwed.   

“NONONONONONO!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She got closer.

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Closer.

“ _So THIS is where it ends. No, wait! This is a long shot, but maybe…_ ” Closer.

“Here goes…” Ventus voided all of the oxygen around her. She started to gasp for air, but Ven kept the void around her. She started to fall, but he waited a little longer, and she fell flat on the ground. He gave her oxygen back, remembering how long the brain can go without oxygen before it loses conscience, He checked her pulse, and she was still alive, just knocked out. Ventus let out the most relieved sigh the universe could have ever heard and laid flat out in the floor.

“ _And that leads me to now._ ” He thought to himself

“Okay, that’s it. I’m going home.” He then realized that his phone was in his hoodie. As in the one he’d left behind. Ven let out the most troubled sigh the universe could have ever heard.

Ventus eventually worked up the nerve to move the dresser and exit the room. Thankfully, everyone was asleep. Alcohol does that to you, Ven supposed. He carefully stepped around and over the girls on the floor, and found his hoodie, in Tiffany’s arms. But the light of luck shone upon the poor boy, and the pocket which his phone was contained in, was exposed. He quietly grabbed his phone, called Aqua, and soon she was pulling up to the house to pick him up. Ventus snuck back to the door, yanked his hoodie out of Tiffany’s arms waking her up, and ran out the door. If one were to listen carefully, they would hear Ven say “I hope your hangovers are awful.” as he exited the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor kid.


	21. Raging battle! Darkness vs Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training gets serious. Also, Ven hates everyone for a few seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. SUUUUUUUUUUPER late chapter. I don't have a good excuse either.

 

The ride home was quiet until Aqua broke the silence.

“Sooooo… How’d it go?” She asked.

Ventus looked at her, eyes depressed, exhausted and grey. “You said that I should go because it would be a good experience right?” He asked.

“Yes?” Aqua responded.

“You’re dead to me,” Ven said back flatly. Aqua immediately died inside.

“Oh come on Ven! It couldn’t have been _that_ bad!”

“I was the _only_ boy there, and all of the girls got drunk from eating alcoholic chocolate, they had a lot of fun trying to seduce me, and the words toy, sharing, cleanup time, and _punish_ were used to refer to me a lot. So tell me. Fucking tell me Aqua. Does it sound like it was that bad to you?” Ventus asked. The two of them were silent for the rest of the ride.

“Yo! Ven! How was the party?” Terra asked, sitting on the couch watching T.V. next to a fascinated Vanitas, turning to face Ven.

“You told me it would be fun,” Ventus said.

“Yeah. I mean, parties are normally fun.” Terra responded.

“You’re dead to me,” Ventus said flatly.

Before anyone could say anything, Ven walked by, greeted Vanitas and stomped up the stairs to his room.

“Was it that bad?” Terra asked.

“From what I’ve been told, it was _worse_ than that bad,” Aqua responded.  
Vanitas laughed. “I’m not sure what T.V is, but this is funny, I can tell you that much. Is this what fun feels like?” Aqua and Terra smiled at him. At least _someone_ had fun tonight.

Ventus had nightmares. Horrible, terrifying, nightmares.

  
  


Ventus woke up yelling “I’m clean right!?”

He looked around, registered his surroundings and received his answer. Yes. He was. And he was in the safety of his home. He looked at his clock. 1:35. PM. He walked down the stairs, and Vanitas, Patty, Adell, and his siblings were waiting for him.

“Hi, Ven. Good to see you feeling better.” Aqua said to him. He completely ignored her, along with Terra’s wave and smile, and walked to his friends.

“So… I uh… I heard what happened yeste-” Adell started. Ven cut him off.

“I don’t want to talk about it. _Ever_.” Ventus grumbled.

“Okay…” Patty said.

“Now that we’re all here, how about we get to training,” Vanitas said.

“Anything that can take my mind off of… _that_.” Ventus replied to his other.

“Okay cool!” Terra exclaimed.

Ventus and Terra went a round in training. Terra managed to beat Ven this time.

Patty and Aqua went at each other too. Aqua lost by just a hair.

Adell and Vanitas went a round also. Vanitas beat Adell into the ground.

“Auggh. Alright Vanitas, let’s try that again! I’m not done with you yet!”

“Fine. Whatever you want. Try to put up a better fight though. I don’t have enough patience to put up with losers or idiots.” Vanitas responded holding a battle stance.

“Let me just take _these_ off,” Adell said. He took off his socks and his wristbands, which really did not go with his outfit, and dropped them on the ground. They left _craters_ in the ground.

“Phew. It’s crazy how hard it is to move with 4 kilos on you.”

“Whoa, whoa, _whoa_. Wait. Did you say 4 _kilos_!? As in _kilotons_!?” Terra asked, his jaw dropping. “That’s over 8000000 pounds!!!”

Aqua, Patty, and Ven’s jaws did the same.

Vanitas just smiled. “Since we’re removing weights,” Vanitas said gesturing toward his ankles. He put his hands to them and absorbed dark energy. He did the same with his wrists. He reached out and dispelled the dark energy toward the ground. It created craters as well. “I was carrying the same amount of weight. It serves more like armor than anything, but it can still serve as a weight.”  
       “Impressive Vanitas. Let's go.” Adell smirked.

“Heh. With pleasure.” Vanitas rushed at Adell so fast he was a blur. Adell dodged a swipe from Void Gear, and punched Vanitas in the stomach. No, wait. That wasn’t Vanitas…

“Too slow.”

Adell looked up to see Vanitas coming down on him, and he wasn’t fast enough to dodge. Vanitas went for another slash from Void Gear, but Adell swooped behind him and went for a flaming punch, which Vanitas himself couldn’t dodge. After that Adell created multiple fire clones of himself and the all thrashed at Vanitas.

“Five clones huh? Well, that means…” Vanitas said smirking. He created a dark barrier around himself, repelling all of Adell’s attacks, then blasted it open, hitting all of the clones and dealing five times as much damage to Adell.

“Ngh…! Shit!” Adell yelled seeing a wave of dark energy heading toward his face. He grabbed it at the last second and shattered it. Vanitas sank into the ground and left a dark shadow in it. The shadow began to flow toward Adell. It went under his feet, and Vanitas jumped out of the ground for a rising slash. Adell dodged the attack barely, and Vanitas did the same thing again. This time though, when Vanitas came out of the ground, a flurry of dark fireballs came with him. Adell smirked at this.

“I can absorb fire you know!” He yelled, absorbing it.

“Can you?” Vanitas smirked back. Adell felt like something was burning his insides.

“What the-?!”

“You aren’t compatible with darkness. Don’t try it.”

“You dirty little-”  

Adell didn’t have the chance to finish the sentence before Vanitas rushed at him, and hit him with Void Gear, sending him flying. Adell landed and skidded backward on his feet. “Okay, that’s it!” Adell said gritting his teeth. He increased the speed of his attacks exponentially. He appeared behind Vanitas and punched him in the back. He appeared in front of him for another attack, nailing him in the face, then the top of his head, then the jaw, then an uppercut directly in the chest, sending Vanitas flying upward. The flames around Adell raged as his eyes began to pulse with red. He jumped to Vanitas and went for a barrage of ferocious attacks, then flew above Vanitas and absorbed all of the flames he hit Vanitas with, and charged up a plethora of flaming energy.

“Crimson Flame BURST!!!” At that moment, he unleashed a huge flaming burst toward Vanitas. But before it could hit him, his blast was obstructed by something exerting the same amount of force.

“What?!” Adell exclaimed in shock.

“You think I can’t do that too? Say hi to DARK LINK!!!” Vanitas yelled back.

The two blasts struggled to triumph over one another, and the two began exerting all of the power they had into it. In between the two energy blasts, an orb of dark fire began to form.

“I can’t… I can’t lose…  Vanitas! Might as well...  Stop… now!” Adell yelled straining himself.

“Hah! You… you’re losing… your… grip! You can’t resist it! Give up!” Vanitas pushed out. The ball of dark fire got bigger, and bigger, and bigger until it finally burst. Both Vanitas and Adell were in the blast radius. After an ear-splitting boom, the two of them fell on the ground. Vanitas wasn’t wearing some spare clothes that Ven gave him anymore. He was back in his dark suit, yet _that_ looked different too. Where it once pulsed red, it pulsed white. His helmet also materialized around his face, and he took it off and looked at it.

“Wha-? My helmet…” Vantas stared in awe at his helmet,  that now branded the Unversed symbol on it. Even his weapon went through a change, as instead of it’s normal red and black, it was also white and black. Adell however, looked even _more_ different. His skin was literally on _fire_. His clothes weren’t burning though. His shirt branded a fire symbol on it, and his hair was also made of flames still in his normal hairstyle.

What the-!? I’m on _fire_!!!” Adell yelled looking at himself. Ventus and Patty stared in awe, but Terra and Aqua smiled at them.

“Well done you two!” Terra exclaimed happily. “I didn’t think you’d be able to use the Truth Of The Soul technique so soon!”

“That’s impressive!” Aqua said with a huge grin. “I couldn’t do that until after 10 _years_ of training, and you managed to do it after a month or so!”

“What do you mean by Truth Of The Soul?” Ven asked.

“It took you 10 _years_!?” Patty exclaimed.

“I’ll explain later. But right now, you two still aren’t done yet are you? Don’t stop now!” Terra yelled at them.

“Ha! Me? Done? Not a chance!” Vanitas yelled back.

“If he wants to keep going, then I won’t stop either!” Adell added.

Vanitas put his helmet back on and got into a fighting stance. Adell did the same.

Vanitas surrounded the area with darkness and four fang-like crystals appeared on both sides of Adell.

“What is this!?” Adell yelled out. The crystals immediately crunched down on him and he was blinded. All he could see was what was directly in front of him, and only a few feet in front of him. This gave Vanitas the chance he needed to thrash at Adell, and he did so. After regaining his sight, and taking a lot of damage, Adell was more than prepared for some payback. He ran for Vanitas leaving fire in his wake and went for a three hit punch combo. Vanitas blocked it, or he _tried_ to. Adell’s hand went through the barrier with no resistance.

“How did you-?!” Vanitas managed before being punched in the chest immediately, sending him flying backward. He flew toward the fire Adell had left earlier, and much to his surprise, Adell jumped out of the fire and smashed Vanitas into the ground, pulled him up, and threw him toward more fire. Adell appeared again, punching Vanitas in the back faster than the eye can see multiple times, and kicked him toward more fire. Vanitas found himself flying left, right, up, down, and all around, until Adell punted him upward by the helmet and flew up with him. All the fire flew up as well in the form of a giant dragon. The fire surged around Adell, and he immediately rushed at Vanitas. In just a few seconds, Vanitas raised his blade into the air, and a burst of energy flew from the sky and surged around the weapon. Vanitas began to absorb dark matter from the area around him. He split his weapon in two, turning into two swords with a chain to interconnect them. The chain broke off the two weapons and spun around him in a circle. He reconnected his blades back into Void Gear and slashed an X into existence using the energy from his weapon and the chain began to spin around the X. He put the blade of his weapon to the X and dashed at Adell surrounded by dark energy. The two of them clashed and began striking at each other in the process. They both flew past each other and clashed again and again. Neither of them were wearing down at all whatsoever. The clashes continued and they began leaving shock waves in the air where they clashed. The ground itself began to quake, almost as if it feared the two of them.

“No way…  They’re so… _powerful_!!!” Patty yelled still staring in awe.

“Is that what their souls really are!?” Ven asked.

“You two will be able to do that too. Maybe very soon,” Aqua said, still watching Vanitas and Adell go at it.

They’re still getting stronger too,” Terra said watching with glee. “Every time they clash they get a little faster. A little stronger. I can’t tell who’s gonna win at this point! This is gonna be a real show!”

Adell and Vanitas kept going. The sky was surging with energy. It’s a good thing they’re in the shadowzone; The sky would likely be exploding. The shadowzone is stronger than reality for a strange reason.

“I’m done playing games with you!!!” Adell yelled.

“It is now the end!!!” Vanitas yelled back. The two of them went for one final clash, blasted through each other, as both Adell and Vanitas’ energy wore off, and they both landed on the ground. They looked at each other for a few seconds before they both collapsed to the ground in fatigue. They also reverted back to normal as they were falling.

“It’s… It’s a tie!?” Ventus asked.

“It’s a tie,” Aqua said ruffling her hair.

“Guess they worked themselves a bit too hard,” Terra said looking at the two collapsed teenagers.

Patty walked up to both of them and poked them.

“They’re barely breathing. But they _are_ breathing though,” she said. 

“Let’s get these two somewhere they can rest easier,” Terra said slinging the two of them over his shoulder.

"That's too bad. Me and Vanitas were supposed to train with the unversed and reversed today," Ven said smiling.


	22. Get Patty and Ven together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training and group chat shenanigans.

The next time the group trained, Adell and Vanitas sat down and watched. The two of them were currently unable to summon their weapons, but they were able to do normal things. Terra and Aqua were lecturing them about being able to cast spells that were not acquainted with their normal elemental abilities.

“For example, Terra’s strong point was in physical brute force, and all attacks and magic involving rock/earth. But he is also quite capable in other magical elements, and all of you can be too if you train with it.” Aqua said gesturing to her brother as he demonstrated. He did a jumping attack with Earthshaker and upon making contact with the ground, a group of jagged rocks shot out.

“That was one of my best moves, Geo Impact,” he said. “But I can’t rely only on earth attacks. I may go up against an enemy who is completely immune to such. In said case, I must rely on elements and abilities outside of my comfort zone,” He then demonstrated by raising Earthshaker into the air as he shouted “Thunder!” A bolt of lightning immediately crashed to the ground. He then used a different spell, fire, then water, then wind, and finished with a spell that caused a nearby tree to shrink.

“There are also spells that do things such as stop time on specific objects, along with spells that put people to sleep, poison people and confuse them into flipping their sense of direction. There’s also a spell that bi-” Terra stopped, having remembered that the binding spell was something that Vanitas knew very well, as it was used to torture the poor boy. “You get the gist of it I‘m sure,” Terra continued. “Ven, Patty? Come up and demonstrate a few of the spells I’ve mentioned. Let’s start the two of you on the basics and say… Fire.” Terra said.

“Okay!” Ventus said pretty excitedly about finally learning some magic. He summoned Wayward Wind and focused on the thought of using the spell. After a couple of seconds, he used the spell, shouting “Fire!” He shot a pretty decent fire spell off the weight of the chain and sickle toward a training dummy Terra had recently designed and built. Aqua worked a little magic on it for durability. It could also be adjusted to resist or absorb magic spells by either one of them by placing special crystal(s) on it. The spell hit the dummy and did a pretty good amount of damage on it.

“Good job Ven,” Terra said ruffling the young boy’s hair. “Your turn Patty,” Terra said.

“Alright!” Patty yelled, equally as excited as Ven was about learning some magic spells. She summoned her Twin Roses and focused. She aimed her pistols at the dummy and pulled the trigger as she yelled, “Fire!”. Two flaming fireballs shot from her pistols and both fireballs combined into one immediately after she shot them out. They hit the dummy and did about the same amount of damage as Ventus’ attack. Feeling pretty satisfied with her result she smiled and said, “Feeling good.”

“Good,” Aqua said. “The both of you seem to be on equal terms in terms of fire magic.”

The two of them looked at each other, and Ven smiled widely, causing Patty to turn a little red.

“ _He’s really cute isn’t he?_ ” She thought before returning the smile.

Adell and Vanitas both groaned and yelled out to them.

“JUST KISS ALREADY!” Adell yelled.

“You two are so obvious that it hurts to watch! And this is coming from the guy who doesn’t fully understand what love is, and whose life has been built off of pain!” Vanitas added.

“Sh-Shut up!” Patty and Ventus yelled at the same time. Terra and Aqua both chuckled.

“Hey guys,” Terra said still chuckling. “Let’s keep going with some magic training, shall we?”

“How about we try blizzard spells next,” Aqua said.

 Ven was already starting to concentrate on using the magic, and Patty was as well. The two of them aimed at the dummy and shot the ice at it. Patty shot icicles from her pistols, which completely impaled her target all the way through, and _out_ of it. Terra happened to be standing behind it, but not _directly_ behind it thankfully. He dodged the icicles narrowly. Ven’s blizzard attack flew at the training dummy, hit it, and froze it immediately.

“A divergence in technique?” Terra asked with a smile.

“Guess so,” Aqua responded.

“Ugh. I’m getting sick of sitting around! Fucking respond Void Gear!” Vanitas yelled, attempting to summon his weapon. It appeared for just a second, before disappearing immediately. “FUCK!!!” He yelled.

“Dude! Calm down!” Adell yelled at Vanitas.

“NO!!! Me and Ventus may be friends, but I refuse to let him have a skill that I don’t have!!!” Ven looked at Vanitas like he was an idiot.

“You already have skills that I don’t have.”

“Like what?”

“Darkness, Truth of the soul, darkness, darkness, and… oh yeah! DARKNESS!

   “You have a point…” Vanitas said. “Still, Terra and Aqua have been teaching me about the culture of normal people while you’re at school, and the lessons are over. T.V is cool but there’s only so much I can watch. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to school with you guys. You can’t change my mind.”

“Do you even know anything about school?” Ventus asked.

“...No…” Vanitas responded.

“So you are expecting to just jump into school and not fail how?” Ven asked again.

“Easy. I can just take some of your memories.” Vanitas stood up, walked over to Ventus, and placed a finger on his forehead. There was a small bit of dark static upon contact, and Vanitas closed his eyes for a few seconds.

“There. Now I know everything you know.”

“Okay, but that leaves two more problems. Enrollment, and what would we tell everyone? Another new kid randomly hanging out with us? It’s a bit suspicious.”

“We can just say I’m your cousin and that I moved in with you or something, and you do know that there’s also this thing called online enrollment right?”

“Come on Ven, why don’t want Vanitas to go with you guys?” Aqua asked.

“You do know that Vanitas is literal darkness right? How many problems do you think that’s gonna create?” Ventus asked.     

“I may be darkness, but I’m not an animal Ventus,” Vanitas said in response to his question.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine Ven,” Patty said.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Adell asked.

“See? Everyone else is on my side.” Vanitas said to Ven.

“Fine,” Ven said shaking his head, “but if someone dies, I’m not helping you hide the body.”

 

The group spent the rest of the day receiving lectures in magic and practicing them.

Vanitas also got his hands one of Ventus’ old phones and somehow built a self-functioning sim card. Upon finding this out, the group made a group chat amongst each other. But he created a private group chat with Adell, Terra, and Aqua as well. While Ven was hanging out in his room doing who knows what, Vanitas started texting the private group.

 

Void Gear sent a message to _Get Ventus and Patty Together_

 

Void Gear: Okay. It’s time for us to start planning.

 

Rainfell: I’m in all the way Van, but why are you so invested in getting these two together anyway?

 

Void Gear: Because seeing these two love each other while not wanting to admit it hurts me. Do not ask questions. And do NOT call me “Van”

 

Raging Flames: I feel you Vanitas. It just makes me feel weird. The two of them like each other that’s obvious enough, so just admit it to each other and tell each other how you feel.

 

Earthshaker: Neither of you are worried about being treated as a third wheel when you hang out? Maybe that’s what they’re afraid of?

 

Raging Flames: Seeing what’s happening now is worse than that could ever be.

 

Void Gear:  Seeing what’s happening now is worse than that could ever be.

 

Rainfell: It’s amazing that the two of you sent that at the same time.

 

Earthshaker: Well that’s fair. How would we do it though?

 

Void Gear: Who’s the admin in the other group chat? I think I’ve got some ideas.

 

Rainfell: That would be me. What’s this idea of yours?

 

Earthshaker: Me, Vanitas, and Aqua are all sitting in the same room right now, and the evil smile Vanitas just flashed was something that would haunt my nightmares for all eternity. Just figured that you guys might want to know that.

 

Void Gear: Let’s do a little rearranging of their names in the group chat

 

Earthshaker: AQUA WHERE DID YOU LEARN THAT SMILE OH MY GOD!

 

Raging Flames: This is gonna be good no doubt.

 

Rainfell: What shall I name them?

 

Earthshaker: I CAN’T HANDLE THESE EVIL FACES! WHAT DEMONS HAVE TAKEN MY FAMILY FROM ME!?

  
  
  
  


Later that day, when Ven was sitting at the couch fooling around with his phone.

“I wonder what the others are up to.” He said. He opened his app, opened the group chat,  

and fell off his seat.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” He yelled. “WHO THE FUCK CHANGED MY NAME!!??”

Someone had changed his name to “Patty’s Boyfriend.” He frantically texted Adell and asked him about it. Except he forgot he was texting the _group_.

  
  
  


Patty’s Boyfriend sent a message to The Wielders of the Soul

  
  


Patty’s Boyfriend: ADELL WHO CHANGED MY NAME IN THE GROUP CHAT?!

 

Raging Flames: I don’t kn-OH MY GOD THAT IS PRICELESS!

 

Raging Flames: Also Ven? This is the group chat.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Wait what!?

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Hey what’s going… on…

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Who changed my name!? WHO CHANGED MY NAME!? I WILL DIE OF EMBARRASSMENT!! IM CRYING RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD!

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: YOU KNOW WHAT!? YOU MADE HER CRY!!! WHO THE F**K DID IT!?!? I’LL COVER YOUR OUTSIDES WITH YOUR INSIDES!!! I WILL SUMMON A TORNADO THAT WILL TEAR YOU IN HALF! IF NO ONE CONFESSES I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!!! WHOEVER DID IT, IM SORRY TO SAY THAT IT’S TOO LATE FOR YOU, BUT AT LEAST YOU CAN SAVE EVERYONE ELSE!!!!

 

Void Gear: Dude chill.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: _YOU_. IT WAS YOU WASN’T IT!?

 

Rainfell: Ven? You’d love me no matter what I do right?

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: No… Aqua… You didn’t… You couldn’t…

 

Rainfell: It was me. Now don’t freak out…

 

Earthshaker: I just heard Ven scream angrily, and upon lookin’ out the hallway, my head was nearly taken off by a the door to his room. Flying across the hallway. What is happening?

 

Void Gear: Scroll up. _It_ is happening.

 

Earthshaker: Oh. _Oh_.

Rainfell: Ventus it is for your own good!

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: How the hell could this be for my own good?

 

Void Gear: See, he stopped using caps lock. Were getting somewhere.

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Why is this happening again? I’m not ready for this…

 

Void Gear: You’re ready alright. You just admitted that you like him!

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: …

 

_Ven’s Girlfriend has logged off._

 

Void Gear: Shit. I scared her away.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: I’m with Patty on this one. f**k you guys.

 

 _Patty’s Boyfriend has logged off_     

 

Rainfell: It didn’t work.

 

Void Gear: Ye of little faith Aqua. You how many subliminal messages I just sent to them? My phone has been modified by the power of darkness. I can literally do anything. Hey Adell? DId you catch all that?

 

Raging Flames: Yes. Yes, I did.

 

Void Gear: Good. Now we wait.

Rainfell: Go to bed guys! You have school tomorrow!

 

Void Gear: Okay.


	23. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vanitas learns of why Mckenzie sucks

The next day, when Ven woke up, he found himself thinking, “I’m gonna tell Patty I like her today!” He realized he’d said that out loud.

“What the-?” Ventus said covering his mouth. “I didn't… Huh. Weird.”

 

He went about his normal morning bis, getting dressed and all that. Vanitas did the same, and soon they were waiting by the bus stop. Vanitas saw Ven’s skateboard.

“You need to teach me how to ride one of those,” Vanitas said.

“Maybe… One… day…” Ventus said. His face was lost as if he were in deep thought. Vanitas ignored it, knowing it was the messages he’d sent to him yesterday until he saw a girl walking up to where they were standing. His first instinct was to summon Void Gear and prepare to slice her head off, before remembering that not everyone wanted to hurt him.

“Heads up Ventus,” he said. “Someone’s coming and it’s not Adell.”

Ven snapped out of it.

“Oh. It’s _her_. Remember how I told you I wouldn’t help you hide a dead body? Well if you kill _her_ then let me know. I wouldn’t mind seeing her lifeless corpse.”

“Jesus Ventus. And I thought _I_ was your dark side.”

Mckenzie walked up to the two of them, looked at Ven with a bit of a sheepish sorry look, and gave a confused glace to Vanitas.

“S-so… Ventus… I uh… Remember a lot of what happened at the party… I-I’m sorry we acted like animals. I _swear_ we didn’t know the chocolate had alcohol in it.” Mckenzie said, twiddling her fingers nervously.

“What about me being the only boy there?” Ventus said sarcastically.

“I don’t know what was up with that one actually. Tiffany just called me up and told me to come over. They practically shoved chocolate at me too. Thinking about it now, I think one of them knew it was alcoholic. How the hell did we even get drunk off that anyway?” Mckenzie ranted. She then looked at Vanitas again. “You new here or something?” She asked.

“Something like that. Ventus’ cousin. I had a bit of a… _broken_ relationship with my father. I stay with him now. Name’s Vanitas.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” Mckenzie said. Ven was actually kind of surprised at not hearing her spitefully say something like “No one cares about your problems” or “I didn’t ask for your life story.”. Adell then came walking up to the stop.

“Mckenzie?” He asked. “Since when do you ride the bus in the morning?”

“Eh. My mom got tired of giving me rides,” Was her completely dishonest reply. She just wanted to get closer to her target. Ventus. Something about Vanitas though was… weird to her. Like he was… something _else_. Like he wasn’t normal. Focusing on that feeling, she could feel it emanating from Ventus too, and it was strong. Eventually, she figured her mind was playing tricks on her. Soon, the bus came and picked them up. And the moment it did, everyone turned to Vanitas. They kept looking at him weirdly. He ignored it, but he could have sworn their eyes had flashed red when they saw him. Ven ended up sitting next to Patty, and both of them looked like they were biting their tongues enough to make them bleed. They were still avoiding their feelings. Vanitas somehow ended up next to Mckenzie.

“What’s with those two?” Mckenzie asked.

“They like each other but don’t want to admit it to each other,” Vanitas replied. The look on Mckenzie’s face told Vanitas that he’d just screwed up.

“That _bitch_ thinks she has a chance with him?” She seethed. “If she thinks she does and I’m gonna let it slide, then _hell_ shall be unleashed on her.”

“ _Oh shit I just made a mistake,_ ” Vanitas thought to himself.

Soon they were pulling up to the school, Mckenzie shot daggers toward Ven and Patty, specifically Patty, as they got off the bus, Adell not too far behind. Vanitas hung back for no real reason, and just so happened to be walking by Mckenzie.

“Hey, Van right?” She asked. He resisted the urge to grab her by the throat.

“Don’t _ever_ call me that. I am _not_ Ventus.” He spat.

“Ooookay fine. Vanitas. So… hm… I’ve got it!” Mckenzie said. “We can make him jealous!” Vanitas looked at her like she was an idiot.

“The fuck do you mean ‘we’?” He asked.

“Maybe if we start ‘hanging out’ whenever Ventus is around he’ll get jealous,” Mckenzie said.

“One, he doesn’t like you. Two, I can’t…” He stopped. Is it true he can’t feel anything for anyone? He trusts his “friends” but doesn’t feel anything else that could be considered a positive emotion.

“You can’t what?” She asked. “Besides. I’ve seen you staring at me you pervert.”

“What are you talking about?” Vanitas asked genuinely confused. “I was just studying the weak points of that pitiful body of yours in case you tried to attack me.”

“I don’t even-! Why would I attack you? And did you call my body _pitiful_!? You’ve got nerve mouthing off to a cheerl-”

“It doesn't matter who or what the fuck you are, I. Don't. Care, ” Vanitas snarled at her. He felt unversed brewing. “If I deem you an enemy then I will not hesitate to beat the shit out of you. What the hell is a cheerleader anyway?”

“You kidding me.” She said staring at him with her jaw hanging open. “You don’t know what a cheerleader is?!”

“No, and I don’t care. Why am I even talking to you about this!? Why am I talking to you at all!?” He yelled. He turned to walk away, only to be grabbed by the hood on his jacket.

“I’m not letting you get away just like that.” She said as she dragged him away.

 

Mckenzie was terrifying. This is something Vanitas had just learned about her. He knew he could completely crush her if he wanted to, but the things he had experienced were confusing. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. She dragged him away to the back of the school and did something that completely dazed him with her _mouth_. As in, she put _hers_ on _his_ , slapped him in the face, and said, “You are an adorable piece of shit. Ventus may have some competition.” And just walked away. Of course, Vanitas didn’t understand the concept of a kiss. In fact, it eluded him in every way possible.     
He felt weird. A bit scared, but also weird.

“The _fuck_ was that about!?” He asked. “Why did she put her mouth on mine!? That’s fucking _disgusting_!!!” He realized that his face was burning. He felt like it was on _fire_. Class hadn’t started yet, so he ran to the bathroom to make sure his face wasn’t _actually_ on fire.  It wasn’t, but he started to hyperventilate. A large group of unversed flew from him and ran for the exit.

“Oh, fuck off! All of you!” He said summoning his weapon. He killed them all and felt a sharp pain. “Oh, of course, _that_ didn’t change.” He spat gritting his teeth.

 

Ventus jutted upward. Something is wrong with Vanitas. He immediately ran for the nearest bathroom. Inside he found Vanitas on the ground hyperventilating.

“Vanitas are you okay!?” He yelled running to his other. Another group of Unversed appeared.

“Whoa!” Ven yelled.

“Kill them!” Vanitas growled through clenched teeth.      

“But…”

“I don’t give a shit if you drop a goddamn supernova on them. JUST GET RID OF THEM!”

So Ven did what Vanitas told him to do. It was extremely painful, but he sucked it up.

After a while, Vanitas had gotten them under control.

“What happened to you dude?” Ven asked. “Your face is really red.”

“Mckenzie happened. We got into an argument, and she fucking dragged me to the back of the school, put her mouth against mine, slapped me, then stormed off, calling me an ‘Adorable piece of shit’ and saying something about you having competition!”

Ventus stared at him in awe.

“You said that she _kissed_ you?”

“The fuck is a ‘kiss’!? Wait. Didn’t Adell tell you and Patty to do that yesterday?”

Ventus turned red before responding.  

“First, language dude. Second, a kiss is something that people who love each other do.”

“WHY THE FUCK WOULD SHE LOVE ME!?!? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT LOVE IS!!!”

“I don’t know. Mckenzie is confusing. Let’s get out of here though. This place smells awful.” That was when the smell hit Vanitas. He ran to a trash can and threw up.

“Dude, I know it’s bad but it’s not _that_ bad,” Ventus said.

“Being acquainted with darkness affects your sense of smell. I could detect a scent better than a dog if I wanted to.” Vanitas responded, having finished barfing.

The warning bell rang at that moment.

“Time to head to class, Vanitas.”

“As long as I’m not anywhere near that… that… near _her_ , I’ll be just fine.”

“What homeroom do you have?” Ven asked.

“Ms. Marcy is the teacher,” Vanitas responded.

The look that crossed Ven’s face was happy then a wince.

“Good news and bad news,” Ventus said.

“Bad news first.”

“Mckenzie is in that class,” Ven said.

“Kill me. Well, WHAT’S THE GOOD NEWS!?!?”

“It’s the same class as us. We all have the same homeroom.”

Vanitas’ scowl lifted a little.

“Fine. Alright. To class. You still have something to tell Patty right?”

Ven’s eyes went a little dull for a few moments as if he were processing what Vanitas just said. Messages.

“Yeah… I’m… I’m gonna tell her how I feel,” Ven said.

 “Good,” Vanitas said to his hypnotized other. “Good.”

Vanitas walked into the classroom, behind him, Ventus.

“Oh! There you are. Yet another new student!” Ms. Marcy said happily. Same thing as the bus. All heads turned to him and their eyes flashed red. Only exceptions are his friends, the teacher, and _Mckenzie_. The smug look on her face made him angrier. The feeling of the anger burning his throat drowned out the sound of Ms. Marcy’s voice for a moment.

“Vanitas? Vanitas? Would you… like… to introduce yourself?”

“I’d say I’ve introduced myself _already_.” He snarled. He trudged to the only empty seat in the classroom. Next to Mckenzie. Ms. Marcy was confused, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d say she saw purple mist floating off Vanitas with every step he took toward his seat. Once he sat down, Mckenzie shot a smug glance toward Vanitas.

“Did you enjoy your morning?” She asked.

“I used to think that Ventus was being over dramatic when he told me about you, but now I see that your mere existence is a sig **n that** any god that exists has made the first mistake in the history of religion.”

“You are the most adorable person I have ever seen.”

“ _I will gut you like a fish you insignificant speck_.” Vanitas spat. The venom in his voice was hilarious to her.

“Your creation is the first sign that ‘Any god that exists’ is making people too adorable. ”

“I _hate_ you.”

“Love you too.”

From there class went on. Vanitas still felt like he was being watched though, and not by Mckenzie, but someone else. The rest of the day was spent with Mckenzie side-eyeing and smiling at him smugly. He hated it.

“What is wrong with her!? First, she says she likes Ventus then she randomly ‘kisses’ me!?” He ranted. What was that weird emotion that he felt earlier anyway? Why him? He can’t feel anything positive anyway! Why else was he unable to summon- the feeling of Mckenzie kissing him played in his head, and something awful happened. A Reversed popped right out of him. He felt it and he immediately became drowned in unbridled rage, because he knew exactly what it was. Joy. He enjoyed it. He didn’t particularly like her like that, but her bullshit brought a positive reaction from him.  

“No. No! NONONONONONONONO!!!” He yelled. He struck down the Reversed immediately. More appeared. It didn’t physically hurt to destroy them, but it hurt in its own way. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Love. Especially not _her_.” No one had seen him thankfully. All he knew was that this was going to be an awkward conversation to have with the others.

 

Earlier that day with Ventus…

  
  


“H-Hey… Patty? I uh… I need to talk to you.” Ven said sheepishly.

“S-sure. What do y-you want to talk about?”

“Come on. Let’s walk.” So they did. And Ventus told her how he felt about her. Everything to every last detail. She accepted his feelings and told him her feelings about him. They shared a nice kiss and officially became a pair. Vanitas, Terra, Aqua, and Adell’s efforts had paid off. The day went on from there. And everyone was happy. Except for Vanitas of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what kind of character I'm writing anymore.


	24. Groupchat talk.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas is not a happy boi.

_Void Gear sent a message to The Wielders Of The Soul_   

   

 

Void Gear: Ventus? Please. Put. Me. Out. Of. My. Misery. Why the f**k did I decide to go to school with you?

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: What ELSE went wrong?

 

Void Gear: I summoned a Reversed.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Dude, that’s great! What’s wrong with that?

 

Void Gear: It’s because of… _her_.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: You don’t mean… You…

 

Void Gear: Kill. Me. Please. I have no reason to live. Existence hurts me. Take my soul from my body. I. Don’t. Want. To. Love. Ventus. I will actually end myself. Again. Right now.

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Why? What happened today?

 

Earthshaker: Yeah. what’s with all of the commotion dude?

 

Rainfell: Do tell! I’m interested.

 

Void Gear: She. Kissed. Me. She f**king kissed me.

 

Earthshaker: HOLY S**T, WHO!?

 

Rainfell: HOLY S**T, WHO!?

Ven’s Girlfriend:  HOLY S**T, WHO!?

 

Raging Flames: What’s goin- HOLY S**T, WHO!?

 

Void Gear: _Mckenzie_.

 

Earthshaker: How?! Why!? I thought she liked Ventus! What the hell is happening!?

 

Void Gear: Me and her were arguing, and when I tried to leave, she grabbed me by the back of my jacket’s hood, dragged me to the back of the school, kissed me, then f**king slapped me in the face, and walked away!

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Don’t forget she called you an adorable piece of s**t.

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: And you ended up summoning your first Reversed from that experience? Doesn’t that mean…

 

Void Gear: I swear I will bring harm to you if you finish that question.

 

Earthshaker: YOU LIKE HER?!  
  


Rainfell: Looks like it.

 

Void Gear: I will end your lives. I thought you were cool. You are both dead to me and I will kill you painfully and slowly to maximize your suffering. I will summon Unversed that will give you death by 1,000,000 cuts. I will make you suffer worse than Eraqus could have ever made me. Besides. I don’t like her like that, but that bulls**t move she made brought a positive reaction, and I despise that.  

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Dude chill.

 

Ven’s boyfriend: So… What now…

 

Void Gear: Other than Terra being added, and Aqua being re-added to my hit list, I don’t know.

 

Rainfell: You know you don’t mean it. :)

 

Earthshaker: My sister is a god.

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Well, me and Ven have an announcement to make.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: I don’t really like our usernames, but they are correct.

 

Void Gear: You mean…

 

Ven’s Girlfriend: Yep! As of today, me and Ventus are officially dating. Also, yes. These usernames suck.

 

Void Gear: FINALLY JESUS

 

Raging Flames: God almighty it’s about time

 

Rainfell: Don’t skip out on training! And Ven? Remember the promise you made to me.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Oh, shut up Aqua!

 

Earthshaker: Glad to hear it.

 

Void Gear: Well maybe Mckenzie will finally take a goddamn hint.

 

Patty’s Boyfriend: Where does that leave you? She’ll go after you I’m sure.

 

Void Gear: … F**K

 

Rainfell: Well, you do like her right?

 

Void Gear: I already told you, I don’t like her. That stunt she pulled just brought a positive reaction.

 

Rainfell: Lemme change your names really quick,

 

_Rainfell changed Patty’s Boyfriend’s name to Wayward Wind_

  _Rainfell changed Ven’s Girlfriend’s name to Twin Roses_

 

Wayward Wind: Thank you.

 

Twin Roses: Thank you.

 

Raging Flames: Perfect timing too. Homecoming is in two weeks.

 

Void Gear: What is homecoming?

 

Wayward Wind: Terra and Aqua really didn’t teach you everything did they?

 

Void Gear: I didn’t even know what a cheerleader is, but it doesn’t seem that important. You tell me.

 

Raging Flames: It’s a big event celebrating the younger grades in high school, but everyone attends.

 

Wayward Wind: Most people bring a date with them.

 

Twin Roses: Which is why Adell said perfect timing.

 

Void Gear: Do you have to go with a date?

 

Wayward Wind: Not really.

 

Void Gear: Well I’ll go then.

 

Wayward Wind: For a second I thought you were gonna ask what a date is.

 

Void Gear: I don’t know what a date is, but it sounds like something involved with love. In which case, I f**king despise it by association.

Wayward Wind: Well, now here’s the next couple to get together.

 

Void Gear: Ventus, you absolute spoon I swear to god, do NOT start with me. Your situation was different. You and Patty liked each other, but were too big of wussies to tell each other. My situation is that I am a being that should be incapable of feeling any positive emotion. Love is the VERY last thing I ever thought I’d feel for anyone. Especially that brat. I don’t care how many Reversed want to tell me I like her, or that I enjoyed her black magic bulls**t I refuse to accept that feeling, and I will consistently destroy any positive emotion that dares to exit my body involving her with extreme prejudice and no remorse. If any of you believe that you will dare have a chance to play matchmaker on me, be prepared to lose your throat.

 

Wayward Wind: Oh this is gonna be fun.

 

Void Gear: I wish I’d killed you when I got the chance. F**k you. All of you.


	25. A new return?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A return of hope, and of evil.

Vanitas sat back and sighed. Why does this have to happen to him? What kind of cruel god decided on this? Oh well.

“Screw this. I’ll just contemplate it after a quick nap.” He stood up and went to the room that had been made from him. How they’d made it for them, he didn’t know. “Magical bullshit probably.” He said to himself. But he was thankful to have it. Before his “friends” he would wander around, and likely sleep in caves, or in deep forests. He’d never had any place of comfort for himself. As he entered his room, he smiled.

“This is really mine huh?” He said. Another Reversed flood pushed from him, but it was smaller than the normal ones. Aqua tended to call the Reversed floods “Drizzles”, and for the life of him, Vanitas couldn’t find a better name for them.  

“Another Reversed?” He felt it. Happiness. For having his own space. His own home. “Fine. I’ll let you exist.” The creature grew a bit bigger at the positive emotions flowing from Vanitas. He laid on his bed, and his Reversed followed him. It jumped into his arms and cuddled close to him. He gave it a rub behind the antenna, and it made a sound Vanitas had never heard before. It was a purring sound.

“What was that?” He asked. The Drizzle made a shrugging motion and cuddled closely with him some more. Vanitas sighed.

“Whatever.” He said drifting into sleep.

 

“Vanitas…” A voice called. Vanitas’ eyes snapped open, and he saw himself laying on a stained glass pillar. It had darkness on the edges of it, and he saw himself holding Void Gear. Nothing that he hadn’t seen before, but the faces of Ventus, Adell, Patty, Terra, and Aqua were now there.

“Vanitas…” The voice called again. A peal of maniacal laughter followed it.

“No… You… I escaped from you… You… can’t… You can’t find me here… I-I…”

“My return to the Realm Of Light is soon to be a reality. I shall crush the light into oblivion,” The voice cackled. “And I will make you suffer once more. _But this time, you will never escape me again_.”

“No… N-No! I’ve… I’ve recovered from what you did to me! I-I have friends! Family! People who care about me!” Another shrill evil laugh.

“ _Care_? They don’t care about you. No ever has. No one ever will. So enjoy it Vanitas. Enjoy it until it’s ripped from you, and you return to where you started. Alone. Darkened. Enraged. Envious. Awaken little Vanitas. Awaken.”

 

Vanitas jumped upward, startling the Reversed that was in his arms. He looked at it, and it gave a knowing look. It felt Vanitas’ disturbance within his dreams too. It turned into a ball of light and floated into him. He charged down the stairs to Ventus, Terra, and Aqua. They immediately looked at him.

“What’s wrong?!” Terra asked running to him.

“Van are you okay?!” Aqua yelled following Terra.

“Vanitas! Breathe!” Ventus demanded, heading to Vanitas.

“He’s coming. He’s coming back! After us. He wants the light. He wants the Realm Of Light to himself!”

“Who!?” Ventus yelled. Vanitas’ chest felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

“Eraqus,” He practically whispered. “I don’t want him to take you from me! You’re all I have! Please! Don’t let him hurt me! Don’t let him hurt us!”

“It’s okay,” Aqua comforted hugging him, as Terra and Ventus joined.

“We won’t go anywhere,” Ven reassured him.

“We’re here for you,” Terra said. “But you said that he’s coming back?”

“Yes,” Vanitas responded trembling

“Then we’ll have to train harder. Push ourselves to our limits to prepare,” Aqua said seriously. “Terra? Do it.”

“What? Aqua that’s cra-”  Aqua cut him off.

“If what Vanitas has told us so far has been true, then the only way that Eraqus can escape is if he collapses the barrier between the Realm Of Light and the Realm Of Darkness. She told us once what had happened in the past when that had been done, and she foresaw that this would happen. We need her here.”

“Who are you talking about?” Ventus asked.

“Get Adell and Patty here. Now.” Aqua demanded. “Mom is coming home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is starting to kick things into high gear!


	26. Welcome home, Mom.

Ven, Patty, Adell, and Vanitas found themselves in front of Terra and Aqua. Briefing them on what may be to come.

“Our father plans to return from the Realm Of Darkness. But he must not be permitted to. If he does, then it’s over. Everything we know may be on the verge of collapsing. He’s not the only one down there we need to be worried about either. There are millions of dark creatures that reside there, and all won’t stop until all light has been devoured by them. We are the final frontier. Our mother plans to return from her journey. For those of you who do not know, she left to cleanse the darkness from the other fragments of this world. She left a message to Ventus In the case that this would ever come to be.”

“To me?” Ventus asked Terra and Aqua held out their hands, and a flash of light escaped to form into a large orb, and from it, a holographic image of a woman with black hair with blonde tips appeared. She had two different colored eyes, one blue and the other gold, along with a halo floating above her head. Two wings, one of light, the other of darkness arched from her sides.

“Ventus,” She said a heavenly voice. “You must protect this world from the darkness. It seeks the world. Prepared to drown out the light. Engulf it. I am the one who must tell you all that Terra and Aqua were incapable of telling you themselves. You know of your father's weapon, the Masters Defender. Just as you know of my weapon  The Forgotten Embrace. Our weapons can only take different forms, from you. ”

“What?”

“The Forgotten Embrace took this form after I forced you to forget me.” She showed Ventus the weapon by forming it. It was a black, white, and blue bow with surrounded by icy flowers and armed with arrows made from light itself. “I did it having no other choice. Your father’s weapon was made from my will to protect you. You are different from everyone else. Your brother Terra. Your sister Aqua. They are both human, but you are something so much more. You are a demigod Ventus. Just as I am a goddess.” She raised her arm, and a marking appeared on it. “This is the marking of the gods. You and Vanitas both share it on your chests.  I have been watching over you for a long, long, time.” Ventus raised his shirt and the same mark appeared on his chest.

“No… Me?! I’m just a… That can’t be possible…”

“Terra and Aqua were both stripped of their godhood as it was necessary. I knew they could not be trusted with that capacity of power. But you were special, and I know that Vanitas is with you as well. I also know that Eraqus is the one planning to break the boundaries of light and darkness. I was a fool to believe that he truly loved you. I am sorry for what you had to suffer through Vanitas.”

“How did you… ”     

“If you are hearing this message, then it seems that I must guide you to protect your world. I am overjoyed to know that my baby boy is grown up, and prepared to defend the light with everything he has, along with his friends, and his family.” The hologram lifted her hand rubbed Ventus’ hair. She then knelt down and kissed him on the forehead, and did the same to Vanitas.

“I love you, my children,” she said as the hologram disappeared.

Ventus and Vanitas both felt their legs weaken.

“I’m a… Doesn’t that also make you a… ” Ven stuttered pointing to Vanitas.

“But you’re… and I’m nothing but a…” Vanitas studded back pointing to Ven. "Wait. The holes in my- OUR memory. I always remembered things that didn't feel right. She was behind it."

“No way…” Adell replied in shock.

“ _Demigod_?!” Patty yelled in shock. “You’re a friggin’ GOD!?”

“Patty? Adell? We may have to train a bit harder from now on,” Terra said with a smile. “That is if you are gonna help us save the world.”

“Ven would be lost without me. Demigod or not,” Patty smirked.

“You think I’m gonna stand by and watch this happen? Not a chance,” Adell said cracking his knuckles.

“You four need to rest. If he is going to come back, then we’ll also have to be more vigilant. Vanitas, he talked to you specifically correct?” Aqua asked him.

“Yes.”

“Then he’ll be quick to create rips anywhere you’ve been. We’ll need you all to attend school still, but keep an eye out for anything.”

So they all went home, and rested, ready for what lied in the future.

 

“This is really happening huh?” Adell asked himself staring into the stars from out his bedroom window. He could hear his parents downstairs, but they didn’t seem to be arguing. Whatever the problem they had was patched up quite well.

“I’m sorry for being out all the time.” His father said. “I quit my job. Until I find a job with more reasonable hours, I’ll be home with you and Adell. Don’t worry about money. I’ve saved plenty.”

“R-Really? You’d be willing to do that for us?” His mother sounded short of crying.

“Of course. It’s what you and Adell need. I see that now.”

Adell smiled to himself and closed his eyes to let sleep take him.

 

“I’m ready,” Patty said to herself looking out of her window. She heard a knock at her door.

“Come in!” She yelled out. Angie walked in.

“Hi Patty,” She said. “I just wanted to check on you. How do you feel?”

“Jeez Mom, you make it sound like I’m sick or something,” Patty said smiling.

“Sorry, it’s just… I don’t know. Anyway, how's school been treating you?”

“I have a boyfriend now,” Patty responded.

Angie jumped and nearly tripped over herself.

“WHAT?! WHO!?” She yelled.

“Oh yeah. I never told you about Ventus did I?”

“NO! OHMAIGAWD!” Patty snickers at the way she said it. She’d always found humor in the way her foster mother said it.

“C-calm down! It’s not that serious…” Patty said.

“Yes, it is! This is a major milestone, Pat!”

“Okay, so maybe it is, but you don't have to be so hyper about it.”

“Okay. Fine, I’ll calm down. Still, tell me everything! How’d it happen? What’s he like?” Patty sighed affectionately.  There was no getting out of this one. So, she told Angie about Ven, and how they met in a “conveniently edited” story. Just when Patty thought she was off the hook, Angie dropped the question that Patty tried so hard to avoid.

"Does he know about... what happened? To your... family?"

"Y-yeah..." She lied. Angie gave her the "Tell the truth, Patty. Or you'll feel guilty until you do," look. Patty sighed.

"Okay, okay. I haven't told him yet, but I will."

"Okay. Don't keep him in the dark. He deserves to know. You deserve to tell him. Your other friends already know, so why shouldn't he?" 

Once her foster mother was at long last satisfied, Patty went to sleep.

  


Ventus and Vanitas both stared at the ceiling of Ven’s room, as Vanitas was afraid to sleep alone.

“Hey, Van?” Ventus asked.

“Y-yes?” Vanitas responded.

“Are you okay? You’ve been really tense, more so on edge, since earlier.”

“I-I’m fine. I just…” Vanitas starts.

“What?” Ventus asked turning to face Vanitas and his ragtag sleeping arrangement from his bed.

“Just…” Vanitas turned to face Ven. “I don’t want to lose you guys. You’re the only family I’ve ever had. If I lose you, then… I’ll be… alone.” His voice trembled now, the moonlight glistening off the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“It’s okay Van. We wo-” Ventus started but Vanitas cut him off.

“Promise me.”

“What?”

“If Eraqus breaks the barrier between our realms, and we have to fight him, promise me that none of you will die.”

Ventus stayed silent for a moment before he responded.

“I promise.” He said. The two of them fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, there was a flash of light in Ven’s room waking him and Vanitas up. Instinctively, they both summoned their weapons. The light shifted into the shape of a door, and a woman stepped out of it. Ventus and Vanitas both recognized her instantly. It was Ventus’ mother, Elizabeth.

“M-mom?” they both said.

“Hello, Ventus. Vanitas. It’s good to see you again my children.” She said.

They both rushed up to her and hugged her. She nearly fell over, then she returned the hug.

“So many questions! I don’t… Where do I start! I…” Ventus stuttered, hugging her tighter, but Vanitas let go of her and backed away.

“N-no… I can’t… I’m… I’m not… I’m just a monster… I’m not your son.” He said. An unknown force immediately pulled him back toward her.

“Yes you are,” she said. “You’re my son just as much as Ventus is. Accept it Vani. You can’t escape from us. We’re your family.”

At that last word alone, Vanitas broke down and cried.

“See?” Ventus asked through tears of joy. “You’re getting soft. You’ve been crying a lot lately.”

“Shut up Ventus,” Vanitas said through his own tears.

“You two need to sleep. I still expect excellent grades from both of you,” She said sternly. The both sighed through their tears. She placed a hand on their heads and cast “Sleep.”

“Oh, you did not juuuuuuuuuu....” Vanitas said falling asleep.

“Mom whyyyyyyyyyyyyy…” Ventus said, also falling asleep.  


	27. The first wave.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eraqus wastes no time.

Eventually, morning came, and Vanitas woke up yelling, “Cast sleep on me!”

Ventus woke up yelling “Why did you do this to me?”

The two of them rushed downstairs to see Terra, Aqua, and Elizabeth filling bowls with water. They look anxious. _Very_ anxious.

“What’s going on?” Ven asked.

“What’s with the bowls of water?” Vanitas asked.

“It’s a goddess thing, _apparently_ ,” Aqua responded.

“Don’t sass _me_ , young lady!” Elizabeth said playfully to Aqua. “I use this method to watch over all humans from the heavens. So, I can use it to watch you and the others.”

“Uh-huh... “ Terra said. “Interesting system.”

“You guys look really anxious,” Ven said. “You okay?”

“We just need to be prepared,” Elizabeth said, light emitting from her palms to the water. “I can already sense darkness building up. The thing that truly obstructs Eraqus from breaking the barrier is the light. He may be able to create temporary rifts allowing some creatures to escape, but they’d have to destroy enough people, as in people with light in their hearts, to weaken the barrier enough to destroy it.”

“So we’ll just have to be wary,” Vanitas concluded.

“Yes, that’s the simplest way to put it,” Aqua said.

“Alright, you two! It’s showtime. Get ready!” Terra exclaimed.

 

It happened during third period. None of them expected it. It was just a flash. A tearing sound shook the atmosphere and the earth itself. From the dark tear that erupted from the sky, three giant creatures and a purple orb of darkness appeared. Everyone in the school rushed to the windows to see.

“What the heck is _that_!?” A student in Ven’s class yelled.  
“We’re all gonna _die_!!!” A kid in Patty’s class yelled.

A kid in Adell’s class just screamed.

Another in Vanitas’ class fainted.

Elizabeth’s voice rang in Ventus, Vanitas, Adell, and Patty’s heads.

“We’ve got company!” She said.

All four of them stood up in their classrooms and if one were in every class at once, they would hear each of them say at the same time, “I have to go to the bathroom!” And all of them ran for the door. Once they were all outside the building, they looked up at their “company”.

“THIS is his FIRST attempt!?” Ventus yelled.

Elizabeth’s voice came into their heads again.

“There are four large sources of darkness in the area. Split up and take each one. Ven? You take the one to the north. Patty, the one south. Vanitas, the one east. There is another source just as large as the hulking monsters, but it appears to be physically smaller. That one’s yours, Adell. They nodded and took off after their targets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LET'S GO!!!


	28. Darkest side of black: Ventus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ventus goes after his target.

Ventus ran toward his target, with the psychic link between him, his family, and his friends.

“What the heck are these things!?” Ventus yelled. Everyone around him was running to safety, while he ran toward the threat.

“They are dark creatures known as heartless,” Vanitas’ voice responded. “I’ve learned a bit about them during my time in the RoD.”

“RoD?” Ven asked.

“Realm of Darkness,” Elizabeth answered. “I believe the one you are headed toward is known as the Darkside heartless.”

“Oh great,” Ventus responded. He was away from any eyes that could have seen him, so he summoned Wayward Wind. “Let’s go you giant piece of garbage!” He yelled. Upon the summoning of Ventus’ weapon, the Darkside immediately turned its attention to Ventus, having sensed the light that erupted from the boy. It slammed its fist on the ground attempting to crush him, but it missed. Ventus rolled out of the way and sliced at one of its fingers. It recoiled in pain, as darkness spewed from its cut. Before its hand could escape from him, Ventus threw the chain of his weapon at it, wrapped it around its arm, and pulled the chain with enough force to propel himself up onto its hand. Once on it, he ran up the Darkside’s arm, dragging the blade of it’s weapon through its arm in the process. The hulking monster roared in pain and attempted to swat Ventus off it’s body. It missed several hits and attempted to shake it’s arm to knock Ven off but to no avail. Once the boy reached the Darkside’s head, he tried to slash the creature in the face, but he was met by its fist instead. Ventus saw the punch coming at the last second, and was able to wrap wind around himself to shield the blow, but it still sent him flying. He crashed through multiple buildings but was still protected by the wind. Eventually, he was able to balance himself, still riding the air around himself to fly. He flew back toward the Darkside, which had begun to throw dark orbs at him. He knew he couldn't just dodge the orbs, because if the crashed below then people would die. Instead, he sliced them into oblivion, or just sent them back at the creature. One of the orbs that came at him, he punted back at the Darkside, and it hit the monster square in the face. The hit knocked it off balance, Giving Ven enough time to fly toward the creature with nothing to obstruct his path. The Darkside got back up after a while, and it was enraged by the chain of events. So it absorbed the dark energy around it and formed into a giant orb of darkness from a giant heart-shaped hole in its body. It grew bigger, and bigger until it was twice the size of the Darkside’s body. The creature released the orb from it’s chest to hold it in its hand. It flew upward, planning to destroy the entire city, including Ven with it.

“Oh no, you don’t!!!” Ventus yelled surging upward toward the Darkside.

Once it flew high enough, it unleashed the orb, and it rained down toward the city. Ventus stopped the orb by clashing against it. He struggled for a while, almost losing his grip on himself. The orb pushed him back a bit, as the darkness surged through the air. Soon, he pushing the blast back toward the Darkside.

“I… Won’t… Let…You…Get… THROUGH!!!!!”  He yelled, kicking the orb back at the monster with full force. The creature tried to knock it back, but Ventus had hit it too hard. It flew right into the Darkside,  tearing its body to shreds. What was left of it went for one final attack turning itself into dark arrows, raining down toward Ventus. Sadly, the attack was completely useless as Ven cut them all down with a single swipe from Wayward Wind. After that, he floated to the ground, and despite his attempts to make it back to the school, he fell to the ground in exhaustion, and decided to rest.


	29. The Behemoths we fear: Patty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patty takes on her target, and unlocks a new power?

While Ven was fighting the Darkside, Patty took off after her target.

“Be safe everyone!” She said through the psychic link. The heartless she was heading toward was a behemoth of a monster. Figuratively and literally. The heartless was classified as a Behemoth. She hesitated for a moment after seeing her target, but realized that it was kind of late to turn back.

“Here goes nothing,” She said. She summoned her Twin Roses, and the Behemoth immediately turned toward her. From its horn, it shot a stream of dark energy, and she ran to avoid it. The beam obliterated everything it touched. She soon laid eyes on a small child that was calling out to her mother, who’d been partially trapped in the rubble. The Behemoth’s beam was heading toward them fast. Patty pushed herself to the limit to make it to the little girl, and remove the rubble that had trapped the woman under it. Too slow. She managed to get the child and the mother out but they were too heavy for her to carry away fast enough. She did the only thing she thought she could as the beam approached. She held herself over the two innocents.

“Think happy thoughts. It’s gonna be okay,” She said to the little girl and the lady residing under her.  

“Hey. What’s your name?” The girl asked.

“Patty. What’s yours?” She asked holding back tears.

“I’m Liz!” Liz responded proudly.

“Liz huh? I used to have a sister that went by that name,” Patty responded, no longer holding her tears.

“Huh? Why are you crying, Ms. Patty? Also, do you know why we’re here? What is that thingy that’s breaking all the buildings?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hey! What’s that beam thingy that’s heading toward us?” Liz asked with a questioning look on her face, and a curious glow in her eyes. Patty turned around to see it. She tucked her head toward the young Liz and said, “I’m sorry. Just close your eyes. You… You may be… Somewhere else… When you open them, okay?”  

 “Sure Ms.Patty.”

The sound of destruction loomed closer and closer until it swept over them.

  
  


“Huh?” Liz said. “Hey! I’m still in the same place! What’s going on Ms. Patty?”

“What?” Patty asked, and she opened her eyes. She was covered in thorns and roses. No… That wasn’t it. Her body was _made_ of roses and thorns.

“Whoa! You look different!”Liz shouted at the sight of Patty.

“Is this what… my soul looks like? Did I just use…?” Her pistols had also turned into cannons attached to her arms.

“Liz?” She asked.

“Yeah?” The young girl responded.

“I need you to be a big girl for me. I’m going to heal your mom okay? But I’ll need you to be a big girl and guide her to a safe place. Can you do that for me?”

“Okay!” Liz responded.

Thorn branches retracted from Patty’s arms and touched the wounded woman.

“Cure,” Patty said.  A green glow flushed over the woman on the ground, and she began to stir. When she laid eyes on Patty she jumped back in fear.

“W-What are you! That monster! What is that thing!?” She yelled.

“Don’t worry,” Patty said “I’m on your side. Liz? Can you be a big girl for me now?”

“Yeah! Come on Mommy!” Liz yelled grabbing her mother.

The woman turned to Patty before she ran. “Thank you,” she said.     
Now that they were out of the way, Patty could get down to business. She instantly charged at the Behemoth. It began shooting fireballs at her, which she dodged easily. She jumped into the air and aimed her cannons at the  Behemoth, shortly before shouting “Wateraga!” And blasting a giant orb of water at the creature. As it sailed through the air, the blast of water obliterated a bunch of rubble just by touching it before slammed into the monster. It roared in pain, and began to charge at Patty. No dice. She was much smaller, but also much quicker than it. She was still shooting normal soul bullets along with spells at it. In a rage, the Behemoth emitted a deafening roar that knocked her away, along with shattering a few buildings in the vicinity like glass, but Patty dug her heels into the ground to slow her push back. Fed up with all of the monster’s tricks, she charged up all of the energy that she had left, pouring her very soul into it, and unleashed all of it in one shot. The Behemoth opened its mouth as dark energy was sucked from the air into it before also blasting it toward Patty. The shots collided, and Patty put even more than she thought she had into herself to continue holding against the Behemoth, as multiple thorn branches escaped from her back, lining around her, before adding beams into her shot to power them up further.

“Buh-Bye!” She yelled to the monster before her shot broke through its own. The blast surged toward the monster, and upon contact, there was an ear-bleeding screech as the monster evaporated from the shot. The beam surged past it as well and flew into the sky. No other buildings were destroyed from it, but from the view of a nearby satellite, a huge beam surged from the earth into space, likely being the remains of Patty’s attack.

She too, decided to rest on the ground as her body reverted back to normal.

 


	30. Tension Rising! Old Tricks of an Old Enemy: Vanitas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas recognizes his foe.

 

Seeing as how Vanitas is technically darkness when he summoned his weapon the creature didn’t turn toward him or even acknowledge his existence. It wasn’t until Vanitas had ran up a building and jumped off it to hit the Trickmaster with dark firaga that it noticed him. If one were to look close enough, they would see the monster narrow it’s eyes at Vanitas, as if it knew who he was.

“Happy to see me, ugly?” Vanitas smirked. It was just as he thought. It was the same Trickmaster that tortured him at a point during his time in the Realm of Darkness. Vanitas soon made a landing on the ground below. The trick master immediately tried to step on him yet it missed. The monster did something similar to an Irish jig dance might look like in more attempts to crush Vanitas, and all of its attempts failed.

“For a TRICKmaster, your tricks SUCK!” Vanitas yelled at it. It got even angrier, and began throwing the double-sided maraca things it held, as they caught on fire. Clearly, it could understand Vanitas. Very well at that. Vanitas sliced the maracas in half as they flew past him before he saw that four maracas were flying back at them. He sliced them in half once more, which lead to eight smaller flaming maracas flying toward him.

“Okay, so maybe your tricks are good,” Vanitas admitted, still dodging flaming maracas. The Trickmaster practically smiled, as it continued trying to crush Vanitas by doing it’s weird dance jump thing, and flailing its accordion-like arms around with surprising accuracy. Still, the dark hero evaded, having some very close calls. He then made a very, very, bad, mistake. In the middle of a few the attacks the Trickmaster was making, he landed on one of its arms and taunted it. Multiple times. It was then that the Trickmaster lost whatever patience a giant monster born to destroy had. So, it used one of its best tricks. It cloned itself. Now instead of having to dodge one giant monster’s accordion arms, Irish dances with murderous intents and flaming maracas, he had to dodge _two_ giant monsters’ accordion arms, Irish dances with murderous intents, and flaming maracas.

“Oh, shi-” his sentence was cut off when he was smacked in the face by one of the Trickmaster’s arms, only to be kicked back by the other Trickmaster. After a while, Vanitas got tired of being treated like a pong ball, so when one of the Trickmasters was about to hit him back to the other, he impaled the creature in the outstretched foot, as in he went _through_ the creature’s foot, and ran across its leg. In the process, he cast fireballs around his feet, searing the surface of the Trickmaster’s leg. He played a little hack and slash with its leg. He looked back while running to see that the other creature could feel what this one did. At this, Vanitas smiled.

“Now you know how it feels,” he said.

He ran on its leg, maneuvered himself to rebound around the creature’s side to get to it’s back, and he hit it full force with Void Gear, sending it flying upward He wrapped himself in darkness, and warped behind the other Trickmaster and his weapon transformed. It nearly quadrupled in size with a hooked edge similar to a scythe, but the blade curved more inward. It had wrapped around and trapped the Trickmaster before he pulled it and threw it at the other Trickmaster. “See ya,” He said watching the monster surging through the air. They smacked into each other back to back as static surged between them, and they fused into one. Before anything else could happen, Vanitas transformed himself, revealing the truth of his soul, regaining his white armor, and helmet with the Unversed symbol on it as his weapon turned white. He wrapped himself in a dark barrier, sending multiple dark clones of himself out to strike the Trickmaster before bursting from the barrier and surging through the creature. As it faded away, and he landed on the ground he said “Too slow.” before losing conscience.


	31. Beautiful Rose! Adell's plight?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, she appears!

“I’ll guide you!” Elizabeth’s Voice rang in his head.

“Got it!” Adell said back. He took off.

“Right! Left! Hard left!”

A group of small dark creatures appeared in his way. They were blue and purple, and their faces were hidden by helmets with markings and a curled rod-like object protruding upward.

“You want some?” He yelled, summoning Raging Flames. He took them down relatively easily before continuing.

“Up!” Elizabeth yelled to him.

“ _Up_?” He asked still running. “You mean up that building?!”

“If you can get up there and vault backward off of it then that would be helpful. Whatever the source emitting this dark energy is, it’s behind you, and _above_ you. Almost as if… it’s… following you?” Elizabeth said confused. Adell looked up and back to see that something in the air was following and looking directly at him. It wasn’t a monster either. It looked… Human? Upon being noticed, the unknown being immediately charged toward Adell shooting balls of darkness at him. He deflected them back at his mystery opponent, but his efforts failed, as his target dodged them completely. The unknown being charged at him moving at full speed, and Adell jumped out of the way as the being slammed into the ground. As smoke clouded around the person, Adell heard a voice ring from it.

“You insolent thick skulled brute,” The mystery person said in the voice of a girl. The figure of a girl in a dress appeared through the smoke. “How dare you resist the rule of Lord Eraqus. You shall pay with your _life_ for such an indecent act!” The girl stepped out of the smoke and revealed herself. She wore a large red, yellow, and black dress, complete with two bows that reach the expansion point of her dress front and back. On the shoulders of the dress were extensions that resembled the wings of a demon. Her eyes were aglow with red, and her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a hair band made of what looked like jewels and diamonds. She looked like she were the child of evil itself, yet she was so beautiful. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen at that. He froze, just staring at her.

“Adell! She’s the source!” Elizabeth yelled to him. Adell didn’t respond and instead stood still in silence staring at the girl.

“Hmhm,” She giggled evilly.  “I see you’re frozen in fear at my presence. Good. Now di-” She looked at Adell clearly, and froze. The two of them stared each other in the eyes for a moment before she broke the silent tension.

“How can a human be… so… No! You are the enemy and you must die! So I, Rozlin, the highest ranking darkness in Lord Eraqus’ royal guard, shall dispose of you myself!” Two blades of darkness formed in her hands. “Bt first, you must prove yourself worthy of the honor of facing death by my hand!” A group of dark creatures similar to the ones that attacked Adell earlier appeared in front of him. He got into a battle-ready stance and took them down with not as much as a scratch on himself.

“Hm. So it seems you are above the soldier heartless class,” Rozalin said raising her dark blades. How about this?”

Five armored monsters all holding shields with Cerberus like heads on them appeared.

“Five heartless of a much higher caliber stand before you. Survive against these defender heartless, and I will fight you myself. Though, I highly doubt you’ll ever make it past them, which is good for me because I’d rather not get my dress dirty with _your blood_.”

Two defenders charged at him while the other three stood back and the heads on the shields began shooting fireballs at him. Adell absorbed them, then discharged a wave of fire that destroyed the two defenders that had charged at him. He rushed for the others, and punched one of the shields with fire, causing it to disappear into a puff of black smoke. The defender heartless, having been rendered defenseless(heh), attempted to strike Adell, but he weaved out of the way to avoid the punch and landed a solid flaming punch to its face. It flew into another defender as Adell pulled a flaming pillar out of the ground under both of them.

The final defender attempted to crush Adell under the weight of its shield, but instead was grabbed one of its legs and slammed against the ground repeatedly until it disappeared into smoke like the others. Rozalin looked stunned.

“How could a mere human have…!? Hmhmhm… Ha ha ha… AHAHAHA!”  She laughed. “You _fool_. You should have accepted the quick death that the defenders could have given to you. Yet instead you choose to face a painful death administered by me? If that is what you wish than who am I to refuse it?” Rozalin rushed at him with her blades in hand in an attempt to stab him but he dodged. He was about to counter, but he hesitated, giving her enough time to recover from her missed attack. She teleported away from him as multiple dark portals appeared and surrounded him. Two portals had appeared in front of Rozalin’s hands as she began launching dark blades into the portals in front of her. The dark blades exited the portals around Adell, and he blocked, dodged, and destroyed the blades attempting to impale him. The portals disappeared just in time For Adell to catch sight of Rozalin in the air before she unleashed dark waves at him. He was still able to dodge them, but every time he was about to attack or counter one of her missed attacks he hesitated. He couldn’t hit her. He didn’t want to see anything or anyone as beautiful as her harmed, but he was getting tired from dodging. He couldn’t keep going like this, or he’d end up being skewered by one of her attacks.

“I see that you are hesitating human. Such easy prey you are. I can tell you’re getting tired. Dodge all you want, but I’ll kill you eventually,” Rozalin said.  

 “What’s going on Adell?!” Elizabeth said to him. “If you keep going like this, she’ll skewer you!”

“I… I can’t… She’s…” Adell responded looking away.

“LOOK OUT!” Elizabeth shouted.

Adell looked up just in time to dodge a dark spear that was sent to decapitate him. Rozalin teleported in front of him as her dark spears were replaced by guns. She opened fire, and Adell continued to dodge. Rozalin then teleported behind him again and stuck her guns to his back before blasting him with them.

“ADELL!!!” Elizabeth yelled to him. He flew into the air from the force of the shot.

He hit the ground and attempted to stand, but fell. Rozalin shot a multitude if spears that surrounded and imprisoned him to his spot. She walked toward him, as a spear appeared and hovered over him, pointing to his neck. Once she reached him, she smiled evilly and was about spear him in the throat before looking him in the eyes again. She brought the spear closer before pulling it back once more.

“Why can’t I… What _are_ you!?” Rozalin asked continuing to stare him in the eyes. Eventually, she twitched and her eyes dulled for five seconds before she turned to see three large clouds of darkness fly into the sky and disperse.

“The Darkside, the Behemoth, _and_ the Trickmaster were all defeated!? Who could’ve… NO!” She turned back to Adell and tried to stab him once more, but the dark spear’s darkness stretched around Adell's neck, completely unharming him.

“So that’s it. A small part of me won’t let me kill you.” The spears that trapped Adell disappeared and she opened a small portal made from darkness and stepped into it.

“Wha!?” Elizabeth yelled out. “She just opened a portal back into the RoD! But nothing came out?!”

Adell didn’t respond. Whatever Rozalin shot him with was eating away at him. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Patty running at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep. That was Rozalin. I didn't want her using guns since I kinda gave Parry some of her moves. So, Rozalin uses darkness that turns into various things. Sorry.


End file.
